New Delhi, September 29 (IANS). The Delhi High Court has banned the broadcasting and streaming of the upcoming ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 by online platforms without proper permission.
The court passed the order after hearing a petition filed by Star India Pvt Ltd and Novi Digital Entertainment Pvt Ltd, operators of the Disney Plus Hotstar platform.
In the petition, the plaintiffs had claimed that they have exclusive global media rights, which include television and digital rights for various ICC events, including the World Cup to be held from October 5 to November 19. Due to the immense global popularity of the World Cup, a large number of websites may engage in unauthorized distribution of World Cup content.
A bench of Justice Pratibha M. Singh said, “There is no doubt in the mind of the court that the World Cup cricket matches are extremely popular, especially in the Indian subcontinent. The rights to these events have been acquired by the plaintiff parties after substantial monetary investment and illegal telecast or broadcast of these sporting events on any website or platform will cause a serious dent in the plaintiff’s revenue.”
Justice Singh further said that there are rights in the footage, commentary and various other elements that are put together to make a broadcast which is fully protected under the Copyright Act, 1957.
In his order he said, “Illegal websites, which have been involved in piracy of copyrighted material in the past, are very likely to continue transmitting copyrighted works to the public during the World Cup 2023. Thus, there is a need to stop any illegal website from spreading and communicating. Any part of the cricket match events may be presented to the public without the permission or license of the plaintiff party.”
The court further said that during the World Cup matches, if any other website is found which is streaming illegally, “the plaintiff will be at liberty to provide the details of these websites to the Department of Telecommunications and the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.” “Issuing a blocking order and asking the internet service provider to block the said websites so as to ensure that these websites are blocked immediately.”
The court said that on receipt of the said information from the plaintiff, the service provider will immediately take steps to block the concerned fake websites.
“The Department of Telecommunications and the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology shall issue orders immediately restraining the plaintiffs from disclosing the details of the websites which are illegally streaming ICC World Cup cricket matches,” the court said.
-IANS
AKJ
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