Delhi High Court restrains business news website from posting defamatory content against OYO

The Delhi High Court recently restrained inventiva.co.in, a business news website owned by the Nine Network Group, from publishing and disseminating false and misleading articles about hospitality startup OYO. (Oravel Stays Ltd v. Nine Network Pvt Ltd & Ors).Justice Mini Pushkarna directed the news website to take down six allegedly defamatory articles with immediate effect, stating,"...this Court hereby restrains defendants including their servants, agents, representatives, employees and other constituents from making, publishing and disseminating or publishing any false, defamatory, disparaging and misleading statements or articles pertaining to the plaintiff."The Court was of the opinion that irreparable harm would be caused to OYO if interim relief was not granted. It thus issued notice to the defendants and sought a reply within the next four weeks. The matter will be heard next on February 6, 2023..OYO was represented by Senior Advocate Jayant Mehta, along with Advocates Raghav Sabharwal and Raghav Bhatia..OYO had moved the High Court seeking defamatory action against the website for its articles, submitting that its brand has a credible reputation as a business in the eyes of investors, prospective investors and the general public.It was argued that the Nine Network Group, in reckless disregard for OYO's reputation and goodwill, were consistently publishing articles on their website containing false, unsubstantiated and disparaging claims against the latter. Further, it was submitted that these articles were freely available on the websites of the defendants as a result of which they were gaining traction.Moreover, the plea submitted that these articles made palpably false, untrue, bald and unverified allegations against OYO and its founder, with a clear intent to damage their reputation.It was contended that the published articles, made false allegations of money laundering and other cases against the plaintiff company, and that no such cases were pending against OYO or its founder..[Read order]