Delhi HC Grants Dynamic+ Injunction In Favour of WB, Columbia, Disney, Netflix Etc. Restraining Rogue Websites From Streaming Their Content
The Delhi High Court has granted Dynamic+ Injunction in favour of Warner Bros., Columbia Pictures, Disney Enterprises, Netflix US and other global entertainment companies against rogue websites which streamed their content.
The Bench of Justice Saurabh Banerjee observed, “The mushrooming of the defendants like the present types and that too by blatant and utter slavish activities with ulterior purpose(s), cannot be allowed to continue and calls upon for grant of an order of ex parte ad interim injunction against them by this Court, both not only qua the present but also qua the future, more so, since the plaintiffs do not know what beholds for them in future causing them to be helpless despite having an order of a Court of Law in their favour. The present is a situation where the defendants herein are like a sapling with very few branches and will soon grow into a big tree with many branches and deep roots.”
Advocate Saikrishna Rajagopal appeared for the Plaintiffs.
A suit was filed by the Plaintiffs, namely, Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc., Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc., Disney Enterprises, Inc., Netflix US, LLC, SBS Co. Ltd., SLL Joongagng Co. Ltd. and CJ ENM Co. Ltd. against the Defendants for streaming their content through the internet to which the Plaintiffs have the copyright. An application under Order XXXIX Rule 3 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908, seeking a temporary injunction restraining Defendants from hosting, streaming, reproducing, distributing, and making available to the public on their websites was filed by the Plaintiffs.
The Plaintiffs were the owners of the content and claimed to be leading global entertainment companies engaged in the business of creation, production, and distribution of motion pictures/ cinematograph films. The Plaintiffs also mentioned an illustrative list of content they have made, like Friends, Suicide Squad, Batman, Spider-Man: No Way Home, The Jungle Book, Stranger Things, Business Proposal, Revenant, Sky Castle, Crash Landing on You, etc. They claimed to have exclusive rights under Section 14(d) read with Section 17 of the Copyright Act, 1957 (‘the Act’).
The Court, while referring to its decision in UTV Software Communication Ltd. and Ors. v. 1337X.to and Ors (2019) said that the case was a classic exhibiting the evolution of “hydra-headed” DNRs/ websites for streaming, reproducing, distributing, making available to the public and/ or communicating to the public any copyrighted content without appropriate licensing, where ownership of copyright is undisputed.
“Technology, certainly has its (ill)effects, which can be (mis)utilized if there is no proper channelisation. It may be a ‘boon’ for one, but if it is without any right, it can (soon) prove to be a ‘bane’ as well. The use of the contents of the plaintiffs by the defendants on multiple websites in the present case, without any of the said defendants having any right, title and/ or interest, much less having obtained any authority, permission, sanction, clearance to do so from any of the plaintiffs, are certainly a ‘bane’ which calls for some remedial order(s).”, the Court observed.
The Court held that the Defendants’ general disregard for copyright was evident from the fact that the defendants’ websites tout that they provide content from third-party websites, which they are supposed to know, were not authorised to distribute copyright materials of the plaintiffs or other rights holders, also from the fact that the latest content of the plaintiffs is regularly and consistently made available on the majority of the defendants’ websites.
The Court, consequently, ordered that the plaintiffs were able to make out a prima facie case with the balance of convenience for the grant of an ad interim ex-parte injunction as also for a dynamic injunction in their favour and against the defendants. It said that in case the defendants were not restrained by way of an ad interim ex-parte injunction, there was a likelihood of the plaintiffs suffering irreparable harm, loss, injury and prejudice, which cannot be compensated for in terms of money.
Accordingly, the Court granted Dynamic+ Injunction to the Plaintiffs to protect their copyrighted works as soon as they are infringed/ created in order to ensure no irreparable loss is caused to the owners of copyrighted works.
Cause Title: Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. & Ors. v. Moviesmod.bet & Ors.
Appearances:
Plaintiffs: Advocates Saikrishna Rajagopal, Suhasini Raina, Anjali Agrawal, Mehr Sidhu and Priyanka Jaiswal.