Delhi HC grants relief to Sony, orders blocking of rogue websites illegally streaming cricket matches

The Delhi High Court on July 1 ordered the blocking of several rogue websites illegally streaming cricket and other sporting events over which Sony Pictures Networks India holds exclusive media and broadcast rights [Sony Pictures Vs Cricfree]..Justice Jyoti Singh passed an ex parte ad interim injunction in favour of Sony Pictures Networks India Private Limited in a commercial suit filed against various rogue websites.The websites ordered to be blocked or suspended include cricfree.cyou, thegamesurf.com, topstream.pro, crichd.top, cracksports.me, mainstreams.io, qatarstreams.me and vipstand.cc.The Court noted that Sony had made out a prima facie case for interim protection.“There is no gain saying that piracy must be curbed and needs to be dealt with a heavy hand,” the Court said..The suit concerned sporting events including the ongoing India Tour of England (Women’s) 2026 and India Tour of England (Men’s) 2026, apart from events such as The Hundred, Asia Cup tournaments, India’s tours of Sri Lanka, New Zealand and Ireland and the Asian Games 2026..Sony Pictures told the Court that it is part of the Sony Group and operates nearly 29 channels across genres. These include SONY TEN, SONY SIX, Sony Entertainment Television, Sony SAB, Sony MAX, Sony PIX, Sony BBC Earth, Sony YAY! and Sony LIV.The company said it has exclusive rights to broadcast and commercially exploit several sporting events, including the New Zealand tour of England 2026, India tour of England (Men’s) 2026, India tour of England (Women’s) 2026, Pakistan tour of England 2026, The Hundred 2026, Asia Cup tournaments, India’s tours of Sri Lanka, New Zealand and Ireland and the Asian Games 2026.Sony argued that the defendant websites were routinely uploading, streaming and making available unauthorised broadcasts of its matches and other sports content. It said the websites were “rogue” in nature, had no verifiable ownership details and were using domain privacy services to hide the identity of their operators..The Court agreed and said immediate relief was necessary since the India Tour of England (Women’s) 2026, which began on May 25, and the India Tour of England (Men’s) 2026, which began on July 1, were ongoing and would conclude in July.The Court restrained the defendant websites from communicating, hosting, streaming, screening, disseminating or making available any part of the sporting events without authorisation..Domain name registrars were directed to block the domains and disclose available details of the website operators, including email addresses, mobile numbers, contact information and KYC details, in a sealed cover or password-protected document.Internet service providers were directed to block access to the websites and the Department of Telecommunications and the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology were also directed to issue necessary blocking directions.The Court further granted Sony a dynamic injunction for the duration of the sporting events, allowing newly discovered infringing websites to be blocked..Sony was represented by Advocates Siddharth Chopra, Yatinder Garg, Akshay Maloo, Ishi Singh, Manish Singh and Shudhata from Saikrishna & Associates. .[Read Order]