Madras High Court
Viacom 18 Media Private Limited vs Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited on 6 February, 2023
Author: C.Saravanan
Bench: C.Saravanan
C.S.(Comm.Div.)No.163 of 2022
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT MADRAS
DATED : 06.02.2023
CORAM
THE HONOURABLE MR.JUSTICE C.SARAVANAN
C.S.(Comm.Div.)No.163 of 2022
and
O.A.Nos.488 to 490 of 2022
Viacom 18 Media Private Limited,
Zion Bizworld, Subhash Road – 'A',
Vile Parle (East), Mumbai – 400 057,
Maharashtra, India
and also branch office at Suit 410, 411
Apeejay Business Centre,
Apeejay House, 39/12 Haddows Road,
Chennai – 600 006.
Represented by its Authorized Signatory,
Mr.Vinit Chandra Sharma. ... Plaintiff
Vs
1.Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited,
Bharat Sanchar Bhavan,
Harish Chandra Mathur Lane,
Janpath, New Delhi - 110 001.
2.Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited,
5th Floor, Mahanagar Door Sanchar Sadan,
9, CGO Complex, Lodhi Road,
New Delhi - 110 003.
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C.S.(Comm.Div.)No.163 of 2022
3.Bharti Airtel Limited,
Bharti Crescent, 1,
Nelson Mandela Road,
Vasant Kunj, Phase II,
New Delhi - 110 070.
4.Aircel Cellular Limited,
5th Floor, Spencer Plaza,
769 Anna Salai,
Chennai – 600 002.
5.Tata Communication Limited,
Vsb, Mahatma Gandhi Road,
Fort Mumbai, Maharastra - 400 001.
6.Vodafone India Limited,
Suman Tower, Plot No.18,
Sector-11, Gandhinagar,
Gujarat - 382 011.
7.Idea Cellular Limited,
Suman Tower, Plot No.18,
Sector 11, Gandhinagar,
Gujarat - 382 011.
8.Tata Teleservices Limited,
10th Floor, Tower I, Jeevan Bharati,
124 Connaught Circus,
New Delhi - 110 001.
9.Tikona Digital Networks Private Limited,
Office 3A, 3rd Floor,
LBS Marg, Bhandup (West),
Mumbai – 400 059.
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C.S.(Comm.Div.)No.163 of 2022
10.You Broadband & Cable India Limited,
Plot No.54, Marol Industrial Cooperative Area,
Off.Andheri Kurla Road,
Andheri (East), Mumbai – 400 059.
11.Sify Technologies Limited,
2nd Floor, "TIDEL PARK",
No.4, Canal Bank Road,
Chennai - 600 113.
12.Siti Broadband Services Private Limited,
B-10 Lawrence Road, Industrial Area,
New Delhi North West,
DL 110 035 IN.
13.Asianet Satellite Communications,
2A, II Floor, Leela Infopark,
Technopark Limited, Kazhakkoottam,
Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala - 695 581.
14.Data Infosys Limited,
Station Road, Durgapura,
Jaipur - 302 018.
15.Readylink Internet Services Limited,
Galaxy, Plot No.7, Sakhthi Colony,
RK Puram, Ganpathy,
Coimbatore - 641 006.
16.Opto Network Private Limited,
B-86, Sector-14,
Noida - 201 301,
Uttar Pradesh, India.
17.Nettlinx Limited,
5-9-22, 3rd Floor,
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C.S.(Comm.Div.)No.163 of 2022
My Home Sarovar Plaza,
Secretariat Road, Saifabad,
Hyderabad - 500 004.
18.City Online Services Limited,
701, 7th Floor,
Aditya Trade Center, Ameerpet,
Hyderabad - 500 038.
19.Pioneer eLabs Limited,
Pioneer Towers, 17th Floor,
Plot No.16, Survey No.64,
Software Unit Layout,
APIIk, i-Tech City, Madhapur,
Hyderabad - 500 080.
20.AT&T Global Network Service India Private Limited,
13th Floor, 1305-06, Mohan Dev House,
13, Tolstoy Marg, New Delhi - 110 001.
21.Nextgen Communications Limited
Thachil Complex,
No.10, 3rd Floor, Raja Annamalai Road,
Saibaba Mission Post,
Coimbatore – 641 011, Tamilnadu, India.
22.Southern Online Bio Technologies Limited,
Flot No.A3, 3rd Floor, Office Block,
Samrat Complex, Saifabad,
Hyderabad - 500 004.
23.MyNet Services India Private Limited,
#12, I Floor, IV Cross,
Gandhipuram, Pallipalayam,
Erode - 638 006.
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C.S.(Comm.Div.)No.163 of 2022
24.LimrasEronet Broadband Services
Private Limited,
Doshi Towers, First Floor,
# 156, Poonamalle High Road,
Kilpauk, Chennai - 600 010.
25.RS Broadband Service India Private Limited,
Doshi Towers, First Floor,
Old # 156, New # 205,
Poonamalle High Road,
Kilpauk, Chennai - 600 010.
26.Spectra ISP Networks Private Limited,
Plot No.21-22, 3rd Floor,
Udyog Vihar, Phase IV,
Gurgaon - 122 015.
27.Pulse Telesystems Private Limited,
51/52, Real Towers,
3rd Floor, Royapettah High Road,
Mylapore, Chennai - 600 004.
28.EsselShyam Communications Limited,
1121, Hemkunt Chambers, 11th Floor,
89 Nehru Place, New Delhi - 110 019 India.
29.Five Network Solution (I) Limited,
22/2, Plot No.275-B,
Gurunanak School Compound,
Sion (West), Mumbai - 400 022, India.
30.Action Lane
No.16 No 1A Kalpana Apartments,
1st Street, Above Padmanaba Nagar Electricity Board,
Adyar, Chennai – 600 020.
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C.S.(Comm.Div.)No.163 of 2022
31.Jak Ciommunications Pvt Ltd,
No 4 J Block, Near 6th Avenue,
Anna Nagar East,
Chennai – 600 102.
32.C32 Cable Net Private Limited,
Old No.284, New No.204,
Shanmugam Salai, Royapettah,
Chennai - 600 014.
33.Thamizhaga Cable TV Communication
Private Limited,
No.9 A/5, Club Road, Near Mittai Shop,
Chetpet, Chennai - 600 031.
34.Thiru Nagar Satellite Vision Pvt Ltd,
No.149/80 Vijaya Theatre Complex,
Behind Kasi Theatre, Pillaiyar Koil Street,
Jafferkhanpet, Chennai – 600 083.
35.Ashok Kumar,
Unknown Person, India.
36.Ashok Kumar,
Unknown Person, India.
37.Ashok Kumar,
Unknown Person, India.
38.Ashok Kumar,
Unknown Person, India.
39.Ashok Kumar,
Unknown Person, India.
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C.S.(Comm.Div.)No.163 of 2022
40.Ashok Kumar,
Unknown Person, India.
41.Ashok Kumar,
Unknown Person, India. ... Defendants
Prayer: This Civil Suit is filed under Order VII Rule 1 of Civil Procedure
Code, 1908 and Order IV Rule 1 of the Original Side Rules, 1956 read
with Sections 51, 52, 55 and 62 of the Copyright Act, 1957 and the
Copyright (Amendment) Act, 2012 and Section 7 of the Commercial
Courts, Commercial Division and Commercial Appellate Division of
High Courts Act, No 4 of 2016 – Suit for permanent injunction
restraining the infringement of copyright/licensed rights and broadcast
reproduction rights, and damages, prayed for a Judgment and Decree:-
a) A permanent injunction restraining the defendants, their
partners, proprietors, their officers, servants, agents and representatives,
franchisees, head-ends and all others in capacity of principal or agent,
acting for and on their behalf from:
(i) broadcasting/communicating, telecasting, retransmitting to
subscribers or otherwise, through any means, the Diamond League,
whether through the Plaintiff's Channels or Plaintiff's Platform, or any
other channel or any other signal piracy;
(ii) transmitting/communicating to public/making available any
games, footage, clip, audio-video, audio only and/or any part of the
Diamond League, including live score updates, play-by-play and/or
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C.S.(Comm.Div.)No.163 of 2022
textual and/or audio-only commentary, through any website, application
and/or any other digital platform through internet, mobile and/or radio
delivery and;
(iii) reproducing, making sound and/or visual recordings of the
plaintiff's Channels or the feed thereof and communicating the same to
the public without authorization of the plaintiff; or doing any other thing
as is likely to lead to infringement of the exclusive rights of the plaintiff
in the Diamond League, shall form part of the Plaintiff's channel.
(b) A permanent injunction restraining the defendants 1 to 29
from infringing the event “Diamond League” and said work be directed
to block all websites/web pages and future websites (including their
prefix and suffix) and those rogue websites mentioned in Schedule – A
including alpha numeric/mirror websites hosting contents that relate to
Plaintiff's licensed rights/copyright protected event “Diamond League” in
any manner, thereby restraining the unauthorised broadcasting,
telecasting, transmitting / communicating to public / making available
any games, footage, clip, audio-video, audio only copying, uploading,
downloading, exhibiting or playing and / or in any manner
communicating in and / or through their services immediate of receipt of
details of such infringing websites / webpages in writing;
(c) A permanent injunction restraining the defendants 30 to 34
from infringing the event “Diamond League” by themselves, their
partners/proprietor/directors, heirs, representatives, successors in
business, assigns, distributors, agents, servants or anyone claiming
through them or under them from infringing the Plaintiff's licensed
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C.S.(Comm.Div.)No.163 of 2022
rights/copyrighted event “Diamond League” by copying, recording,
reproducing or allowing camcording or allowing others for transmitting,
communicating or making available any games, footage, clip, audio-
video, audio only, copying, uploading, making available or distributing
or duplicating or displaying or showing or uploading or downloading or
exhibiting or playing and/or in any manner whatsoever from
communicating the event “Diamond League” and said work without a
proper license from the plaintiff or in any other manner which would
violate/infringe the plaintiff's licensed rights/copyrighted event
“Diamond League” through different mediums including but not limited
to CD, DVD, Blu-ray disc, VCD, Cable TV, Direct to home services,
internet services, multimedia messaging services, pen drives, hard drives,
tapes, DAS, Satellite, Conditional Access Systems or in any other
medium/manner whatsoever;
(d) A permanent injunction restraining the defendant Nos. 35
to 41, restraining them from infringing the event “Diamond League” by
themselves, their partners/proprietor/directors, heirs, representatives,
successors in business, assigns, distributors, agents, servants or anyone
claiming through them or under them from infringing the Plaintiff's
licensed rights/copyrighted event “Diamond League” or any of its
underlying works, in any manner whatsoever, without a proper license
from the plaintiff;
(e) For costs of the suit.
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C.S.(Comm.Div.)No.163 of 2022
For Plaintiff : Mr.S.Deepak
For Defendants :
For D1 to D3 : No Appearance
JUDGMENT
The learned Counsel for the plaintiff seeks permission of this Court to withdraw this suit and he has also made the following endorsement to that effect:
“I am withdrawing this suit.”
2. In view of the endorsement made by the learned Counsel for the plaintiff, this Civil Suit is dismissed as withdrawn. No costs.
Consequently, connected Original Applications are closed.
06.02.2023 Index : Yes/No Internet : Yes/No Speaking Order/Non-Speaking Order jas 10/11 https://www.mhc.tn.gov.in/judis C.S.(Comm.Div.)No.163 of 2022 C.SARAVANAN, J.
jas C.S.(Comm.Div.)No.163 of 2022 and O.A.Nos.488 to 490 of 2022 06.02.2023 11/11 https://www.mhc.tn.gov.in/judis