Delhi High Court passes John Doe order restraining rogue websites from reproducing content from talk show 'Unstoppable'

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday passed a John Doe order restraining various rogue websites from illegally reproducing content from the show 'Unstoppable' which airs on the over the top (OTT) platform Aha run by Arha Media and Broadcasting [Arha Media and Broadcasting Pvt Ltd vs www.vcinema.com & Ors.]..Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva observed that given the plaintiff's investment in the show, any illegal broadcasting would severely affect its monetary interest, and also diminish the value of the show."The balance of convenience also lies in favour of the plaintiff and in case an ex-parte ad-interim dynamic injunction is not granted plaintiff shall suffer irreparable loss and injury," the single-judge added.Hence, he ruled that a strong prima facie case was made out for grant of ex-parte ad interim injunction."Accordingly, till the next date of hearing an ex parte ad-interim injunction is granted thereby restraining the defendants (including John Does), their owners, partners, proprietors, officers, servants, employees and all others in capacity of principal or agent acting for and on their behalf or anyone claiming through by or under it, from in any manner hosting, streaming, broadcasting, re-transmitting, exhibiting, making available for viewing and downloading, providing access to and communicating to the public, displaying, uploading, modifying, publishing, updating and/or sharing (including to its subscribers and users) on their websites, through the internet, or in any manner or platform whatsoever, the Plaintiff’s talk show series titled ‘Unstoppable’ season 1 and season 2 or any other future seasons thereof, and/or any part thereof and/or any content related thereto and/or all future works derived from the said web-series (including any future formats made for exhibiting on the Metaverse), amounting to an infringement of the plaintiff’s copyright and/or broadcast reproduction Rights in the said talk-show series," the Court ordered..The plaintiff approached the Court seeking a restraint on illegal and unauthorized dissemination of the plaintiff’s alleged original content in its talk show series ‘Unstoppable’ which airs on its OTT Platform, Aha.Counsel for the plaintiff stated that any unauthorized reproduction of any part of the show, amounts to not only an infringement of the plaintiff’s copyright, but also an infringement of the plaintiff’s exclusive broadcast reproduction rights.The plaintiff claimed that it had already incurred expenses of ₹17 crores towards both seasons of the show out of which almost ₹3.5 crores was paid for promoting season 2 alone.Further, the plaintiff contended that most of the infringing websites did not disclose their names, addresses and other details due to which they were joined as 'John Doe' parties in the suit.Further, the plaintiff stated that the 5th episode due for release on December 30, 2022 features Prabhas Raju, making it apprehensive about large scale piracy of the episode. .The Court ordered that till the next date of hearing, the defendants will not infringe the plaintiff's copyrights or broadcast rights.It further asked the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) and the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) to direct all registered Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to remove any infringing links provided by the plaintiff, to direct ISPs to block rogue websites mentioned by the plaintiff and to provide plaintiff with complete details of the rogue websites, including but not limited to name, address, email address, phone number, IP address, etc., to enable the plaintiff to implead the said websites as defendants..The plaintiff was represented by advocates Pravin Anand, Ameet Naik, Dhruv Anand, Madhu Gadodia, Udita Patro, Megha Chandra, Tarini Kulkarni and Rasika Dhebe. .[Read Order]