Delhi High Court passes unique 'dynamic+ injunction' to curb illegal streaming of existing and future content of 6 studios

In an unprecedented order, the Delhi High Court has restrained 16 rogue websites as well as their mirror/redirects or alphanumeric variations from streaming or making available for download existing and future content of six American studios [Universal City Studios LLC & Ors v. DotMovies.Baby and Ors]..Justice Prathiba M Singh said that such a ‘dynamic+ injunction’ has been issued to keep pace with the dynamic nature of infringement being undertaken by the “hydra-headed websites”.“To keep pace with the dynamic nature of the infringement that is undertaken by hydra-headed websites, this Court has deemed it appropriate to issue this ‘Dynamic+ injunction’ to protect copyrighted works as soon as they are created, to ensure that no irreparable loss is caused to the authors and owners of copyrighted works, as there is an imminent possibility of works being uploaded on rogue websites or their newer versions immediately upon the films/shows/series etc,” the order stated..Netflix Studios, Disney Enterprises, Warners Bros, Columbia Pictures, Paramount Pictures, and Universal City Studios had approached the High Court. They stated that these rogue websites are permitting the viewing, streaming, accessing and downloading of their copyrighted content without any license or authorisation.The Court was told that some of these websites are newer versions of rogue websites which have been injuncted in other cases. The websites have forms asking viewers to suggest more content that can be uploaded and are also asking people to join platforms like Telegram which support sharing of voluminous content, it was argued..Justice Singh held that such websites have the potential to curb creation of copyrighted content and hurt the thriving content creation industry in India and abroad.The Court underlined that there is an imminent need to evolve a global consensus to protect copyright owners because despite Internet Service Providers (ISPs) blocking these websites, they can be accessed through VPN servers, and “other methods to which the long arm of the law cannot extend”.“However, owing to the nature of the illegalities that rogue websites indulge in, there is a need to pass injunctions which are also dynamic qua the Plaintiffs as well, as it is seen that upon any film or series being released, they may be immediately uploaded on the rogue websites, causing severe and instant monetary loss. Copyright in future works comes into existence immediately upon the work being created, and Plaintiffs may not be able to approach the Court for each and every film or series that is produced in the future, to secure an injunction against piracy.”.The Court added that as innovation in technology continues, remedies to be granted also ought to be calibrated by courts. It clarified that an injunction order with respect to future works cannot be granted in every case and that granting such relief would depend on the facts.It, therefore, passed the interim order of injunction restraining the rogue websites from streaming and distributing any copyrighted content of the studios.The Court further allowed the plaintiffs to implead any mirror/redirect/alphanumeric variations of the websites by filing applications for impleadment. The injunction order shall become operation against these proxies as well.The Central government as well as ISPs have been ordered to block the websites within a week..Advocates Saikrishna Rajagopal, Suhasini Raina, Anjali Agarwal, Mehr Sidhu, Raghav Goyal and R Ramya appeared for the plaintiff studios.Central Government Standing Counsel (CGSC) Harish V Shankar appeared for the Department of Technology as well as the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology. .[Read Order]