Delhi High Court grants relief to JioStar, orders blocking of apps, websites illegally streaming Cricket World Cup

The Delhi High Court has ordered real-time blocking of the websites and applications illegally streaming the ongoing Under-19 Men’s Cricket World Cup and the upcoming ICC Men’s T20 Cricket World Cup 2026 [Jiostar India Private Limited v GHD Sports & Ors]. 

In an order passed on January 30, Justice Jyoti Singh said that JioStar, which holds the media rights for these tournaments, can inform the internet service providers (ISPs), the government departments and the domain name registrars (DNRs) about the websites and applications streaming the content and they will be blocked immediately. 

“Upon receiving the said intimation from the Plaintiff [JioStar], Defendant Nos. 5 to 18 [ISPs] shall take steps to immediately block the said UI(s)/website(s) in question and Defendant Nos. 19 and 20 [Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology and Department of Telecommunications] shall also issue necessary blocking orders immediately upon the Plaintiff communicating the details of the UI(s)/URL(s)/website(s), which are illegally streaming the ‘Events’,” the Court ordered. 

The Court passed the ex-parte ad interim injunction while hearing a suit filed by JioStar, which owns exclusive broadcast and digital rights for ICC events in India for the 2024–27 cycle. 

The Court observed that the issue of rogue mobile apps engaged in the piracy of copyrighted content poses a recurring threat and needs to be dealt with a heavy hand. 

There is a need for immediate relief in the case, considering that one of the tournaments is going on and the other is scheduled to start from February 7, the Court said. 

It added that a delay in blocking access to the rogue websites would lead to irreparable breach of JioStar’s exclusive rights and would cause a revenue loss. 

Therefore, it passed the injunction order. 

Advocates Sidharth Chopra, Yatinder Garg, Priyansh Kohli, Ishi Singh and Manish Singh appeared for JioStar. 

[Read Order]