Delhi High Court Grants Exparte Injunction To Dazn india Against Websites Illegaly Streaming FIFA 25

Background

The plaintiff, DAZN Ltd., is engaged in the business of offering live broadcasting and streaming of sports matches worldwide through a dedicated website and mobile application. DAZN has acquired the rights to stream the upcoming FIFA World Cup 2025. These rights include exclusive broadcasting rights globally, including in India. The plaintiff, through its investigators, discovered that several masked operations were illegally streaming DAZN's content, including matches like Ligue 1, for which it holds exclusive rights. The plaintiff approached the High Court seeking an injunction against these pirated streams and has requested a dynamic injunction.The 'dynamic+' injunction allows the plaintiffs to take immediate action if new versions of the defendant websites like mirror sites, redirects, or with slight change in URL are found to be illegally streaming content over which the plaintiffs hold exclusive rights. In such cases, the plaintiffs can directly inform the relevant Domain Name Registrars (DNRs) or Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to block these new domains in real time.

Submissions By The petitoner

The counsel for the petitioner argued that, under Section 37 of the Copyright Act, 1957, the plaintiffs hold the exclusive right to broadcast, re-broadcast, retransmit, stream, and make their content available for streaming. Furthermore, a fresh cause of action arises each time the defendants stream the petitioner's protected content. Therefore, a dynamic injunction is essential to prevent ongoing harm to the petitioner.

FIndings of the court

The court observed that the petitioner has established a prima facie case and that the present matter clearly involves copyright infringement by masked operations. The court opined that the plaintiff's legitimate rights would be put in jeopardy. It stated, “Therefore, the plaintiff has been able to make out a prima facie case in its favour and against the defendants, and the balance of convenience also tilts towards granting relief in favour of the plaintiff. If an ex parte ad interim injunction is not granted, the plaintiff is likely to suffer irreparable loss and injury.” Accordingly, the bench granted ex parte injunction sought by the petitioner, including a dynamic injunction,allowing the petitioner to approach the service providers to block the altered domain names of the respondent websites that were illegally streaming content.

Case Title: DAZN LIMITED & ANR vs BUFFSPORTS. ME & ORS

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