Delhi High Court - Orders
Star India Pvt Ltd & Anr vs Afilmywap.Top & Ors on 3 November, 2020
Author: Rajiv Shakdher
Bench: Rajiv Shakdher
$~1
* IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI
+ CS (COMM) No. 485/2020 & I.A. Nos. 10011-14/2020
STAR INDIA PVT LTD & ANR. .....Plaintiffs
Through : Mr. Sidharth Chopra, Mr. Yatinder
Garg and Mr. Vivek Ayyagari, Advs.
versus
AFILMYWAP.TOP & ORS. .....Defendants
Through : None.
CORAM:
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE RAJIV SHAKDHER
ORDER
% 03.11.2020 [Court hearing convened via video-conferencing on account of COVID-19] I.A. No. 10012/2020
1. This is an application moved on behalf of the plaintiffs under Section 80 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 [CPC] seeking exemption from advance service of the instant suit action on defendant nos. 55, 58, 63, and 64.
2. Having regard to the assertions made in the application, the prayer made therein is allowed. The application is, accordingly, disposed of.
I.A. No. 10012/20203. Allowed, subject to just exceptions.
I.A. No. 10014/20204. Allowed, subject to the plaintiffs curing the deficiencies referred to in the captioned application within five days from today.
CS(COMM)No.485/2020 page 1 of 4 Signature Not Verified Digitally Signed By:VIPIN KUMAR RAI Signing Date:04.11.2020 14:01:34 CS (COMM) No. 485/2020 & I.A. No. 10011/2020
5. The plaintiffs have filed the instant suit for injunction and damages on the ground that their exclusive rights to the original content in the cinematograph film "Laxmii" are likely to be violated. 5.1 The plaintiffs have averred that the aforementioned film is set for release on 09.11.2020 on the digital platform Disney+ Hotstar. 5.2 According to the plaintiffs, the rogue websites, which are arrayed as defendant nos. 1 to 50, have, in the past, infringed their statutory rights i.e. copyrights in the cinematograph films produced on earlier occasions. The past infringements have been tabulated by the plaintiffs; the details of which are found at page 177 of the plaintiffs' documents folder. 5.3 I am informed that defendant nos. 52 and 53 are the domain name registrars [in short "DNRs"] while defendant nos. 54 to 62 are the Internet Service Providers [in short "ISPs"].
5.4 I am further informed that the Department of Telecommunication [in short "DOT"] and the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology [in short "MEITY"] have been arrayed as defendant nos. 63 and 64 respectively. To be noted, defendant no. 65 is Ashok Kumar i.e. the John Doe defendant(s).
6. Having heard Mr. Sidharth Chopra, who appears on behalf of the plaintiffs, and perused the documents on record, I am of the view that the plaintiffs' legal rights and commercial interests need to be protected. 6.1 I have come to this prima facie conclusion, at least at this stage, in view of the past record of the rogue websites i.e. defendant nos. 1 to 50.
CS(COMM)No.485/2020 page 2 of 4 Signature Not Verified Digitally Signed By:VIPIN KUMAR RAI Signing Date:04.11.2020 14:01:34
7. Accordingly, issue summons in the suit and notice in the captioned application to the defendants via all means including e-mail. 7.1 In the meanwhile, defendant nos. 1 to 50 are restrained from, in any manner, hosting, streamlining, reproducing, distributing, making available to the public and/or communicating to the public or facilitating the same on their websites via the internet, in any manner whatsoever, the cinematograph film "Laxmii" in which the plaintiffs have exclusive rights. For the sake of convenience, the particulars of defendant nos. 1 to 50 are set out hereafter.
S.No. Particulars S.No. Particulars
1. afilmywap.top; afilmywap.nl 26. ettvcentral.com
2. ktmmovies.live 27. zooqle.unblockninja.com
3. mflixbd.wapkiz.com 28. movieplex.best
4. sumonerbd.wapkiz.com 29. yifytorrent.vip
5. daudtech.wapkis.com 30. moviespur.info
6. moviezaddiction.unblockit.lat 31. blurayufr.com
7. tamilmv.unblockit.lat 32. www4.123movierulz.cc
8. 9jarocks.com 33. prmovies.top
9. bollyflix.club 34. yifytorrenthd.net
10. keralahd.com 35. 5xmovies.net
11. skytorrents.org 36. w.8xflix.info
12. downloadbeast.unaux.com 37. ww.8xflix.org
13. klwap.tv 38. moviespur.com
14. kat.am 39. skytorrents.net
15. yifytorrent.pro 40. 4movierulz.pw
16. watch123movies.info 41. 7starhd.viedeo
17. torrentfunk.siteunblocked.info 42. 7starhd.sale
18. ytsmovies.to 43. 9xmovie.monster
19. ww5.filmywap.com 44. 9xmovies.pictures
20. yts.li 45. filmyzilla.top
21. mls-bd.com 46. ssrmovies.space
22. yifytorrent.cc 47. tamilrockers.123unblock.surf
23. download-anymovies.com 48. vegamovies.live
24. 1887x.xyz 49. vegamovies.net
25. torrentgalaxy.unblockninja.com 50. cinevood.space
CS(COMM)No.485/2020 page 3 of 4
Signature Not Verified
Digitally Signed
By:VIPIN KUMAR RAI
Signing Date:04.11.2020
14:01:34
7.2 Furthermore, defendant nos. 52 and 53 i.e. the DNRs are also directed
to block/suspend the domain names of defendant nos. 1 and 2. To be noted, the domain name of defendant no. 1 is registered with defendant no. 52 while the domain name of defendant no. 2 is registered with defendant no.53.
7.3 Besides this, defendant no. 63 and 64 [i.e. DOT and MEITY respectively] shall issue necessary directions/notifications calling upon various ISPs, in general, [including defendant nos. 54 to 62] to block access to the websites of defendant nos. 1 to 50 as also qua mirror/redirect/alphanumeric websites of the said defendants, which are referred to in paragraph 7.1 above.
7.4 The plaintiffs are also given liberty to file an application under Order I Rule 10 of the CPC to array other rogue websites if the same are discovered after the issuance of the instant interim order. The purpose being that the Court, in these cases, needs to dynamically monitor such egregious illegality and, if necessary, pass interim orders to restrain similar rogue websites from illegally streaming the creative content in which the plaintiffs have a copyright.
8. The plaintiffs will comply with the provisions of Order XXXIX Rule 3 of the CPC within five days of the receipt of a copy of this order.
9. List the matter on 25.01.2021.
RAJIV SHAKDHER, J
NOVEMBER 03, 2020
Click here to check corrigendum, if any
CS(COMM)No.485/2020 page 4 of 4
Signature Not Verified
Digitally Signed
By:VIPIN KUMAR RAI
Signing Date:04.11.2020
14:01:34