Case Title: Sony Pictures Animation Inc. vs FLIXHD.CC/ & Ors.
CS(COMM) 366/2023 & I.A. 10681/2023, I.A. 10682/2023, I.A. 10683/2023
ORDER DATED – 29.05.2023
Introduction
The high court in Delhi has temporarily barred certain illicit websites from uploading and streaming the forthcoming films “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” and “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.”
“Defendants 1 to 101, as well as all others acting on their behalf, are prohibited from posting, streaming, reproducing, distributing, or making available to the accessible in any form anyway, any cinematograph work/content/program in which the plaintiff has copyright, which includes the films “Spider-Man Across the Spider-Verse and “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse,” the court stated. The court also ordered the internet service providers (ISPs) to block access to these websites.
Courts Analysis and Decision
The order was delivered by Justice C. Hari Shankar in a complaint brought by Sony Pictures Animation seeking a permanent injunction prohibiting over 100 rogue websites from publishing and streaming the films.
Sony has announced that “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse,” a sequel to “Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse,” will be published in India on June 2. It informed the court that it has not licenced the film’s broadcasting rights to any other website.
Sony said that the upcoming film is accessible for watching on different websites, several of which have also touted the film’s imminent broadcast. “The impugned websites indisputably meet according to the standards established by the Delhi High Court in UTV Software Transmission Ltdvs 1337XToto characterizing a website as a rogue website,” Sony’s attorney said. According to the circumstances of the instance as stated above, the plaintiff’s rights in the films Spider-Man Across The Spider-Verse” and Spiderman, The Spider-Verse”
have/are in the process of being infringed and violated by Defendants 1 to 101 have infringed and violated the films Spider-Man Across the Spider-Verse” and Spiderman, The Spider-Verse,” according to the court.
In addition to prohibiting the websites from streaming the videos, the court ordered ISPs to ban access to them and any “mirror/redirect/alphanumeric websites” that appear to be affiliated with them. The court also ordered the DOT and the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MEITY) to issue a notification ordering all the internet and telecom providers to restraint the access to all the websites.
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Written by- Anushka Satwani
