Delhi High Court restrains over 100 rogue websites from streaming movie Spider-Man: Across The SpiderVerse

The Delhi High Court recently restrained more than 100 rogue websites from streaming or hosting the upcoming animated film Spider-Man: Across The SpiderVerse and its prequel Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse..In an order passed on May 29, Justice C Hari Shankar directed the internet service providers (ISPs) to block access to these websites while also ordering the government authorities to issue a notification in this regard.“Defendants 1 to 101 (rogue websites), as well as all others acting on their behalf, are restrained from posting, streaming, reproducing, distributing or making available to the public, on their websites, or through the internet, in any manner whatsoever, any cinematograph work/content/program in which the plaintiff has copyright, including the films “Spider-Man: Across The SpiderVerse” and “Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse”,” the Court ordered..Justice Hari Shankar passed the order while dealing with a suit filed by Sony Pictures Animation Inc stating that it is the copyright holder of the movie.Sony said that the film Spider-Man: Across The SpiderVerse is set for release on June 2, and even though the movie’s copyright as well as broadcasting rights are only with Sony, many of these rogue websites have also advertised the impending broadcast..After considering the case, the Court held that a prima facie case was made out in Sony’s favour and therefore, passed an interim injunction order.The Bench also issued summons on the suit and listed the case for further consideration before the joint registrar on July 31..Advocates Saikrishna Rajagopal, Suhasini Raina, Ramya Ramkumar, Mehr Sidhu, Raghav Goyal, Sanidhya Rao and Anjali Agrawal appeared for Sony.None appeared for the defendants. .[Read Order]