Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd has alleged that five pirate streaming websites were illegally streaming matches from the 2026 Indian Premier League (IPL) and advertising unauthorised streams of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, prompting it to seek urgent relief from the Delhi High Court. Zee recently acquired the broadcast rights for the 2026 and 2030 World Cups and the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup.
In an order dated June 3, Justice Saurabh Banerjee granted an ex parte interim injunction against the websites and directed internet service providers (ISPs), domain name registrars (DNRs), the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), and the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) to take steps to block access to the websites and ensure compliance with the order. The court also extended protection to future mirror websites and rogue mobile applications discovered during the tournament.
What the court ordered: “The plaintiff has been able to make out a prima facie case in its favour and against the defendants and the balance of convenience is also tilting towards grant of relief in favour of the plaintiff. In fact, if an ex parte ad interim injunction in favour of the plaintiff is not granted, the plaintiff will likely suffer irreparable loss and injury,” Justice Banerjee said. The court further observed that it has become “essential” for rights holders to obtain protection against “associated domains/ URLs/ UIs of such rogue mobile applications” to make anti-piracy orders effective.
Accordingly, the court directed:
- The court directed the five named websites and any other infringing entities to stop communicating, hosting, streaming, or making available FIFA World Cup 2026 broadcasts and related content without authorisation.
- DNRs to lock and suspend the domains of the named websites, as well as future rogue websites and associated mobile-app domains identified by Zee. They must also disclose registrant details, including names, email addresses and IP addresses.
- ISPs to block access, on a real-time basis, to the named websites and any subsequently identified infringing websites or mobile-app-related domains, URLs and user interfaces.
- DoT and MeitY are to ensure compliance with the blocking directions issued to ISPs.
- Zee will continue filing affidavits before the court whenever it discovers additional rogue websites or mobile applications and seeks their blocking under the dynamic injunction framework.
2026 World Cup to also be streamed on YouTube: The order comes amid FIFA’s new partnership with YouTube for the tournament. Under the arrangement, YouTube will act as a ‘preferred platform’, allowing FIFA’s official media partners to publish highlights, behind-the-scenes content and, in some markets, stream selected matches on their YouTube channels.
However, in response to questions about the partnership, FIFA told Medianama that the arrangement would be subject to…
Source link
Disclaimer
We strive to uphold the highest ethical standards in all of our reporting and coverage. We blogs.grocliq.com want to be transparent with our readers about any potential conflicts of interest that may arise in our work. It’s possible that some of the investors we feature may have connections to other businesses, including competitors or companies we write about. However, we want to assure our readers that this will not have any impact on the integrity or impartiality of our reporting. We are committed to delivering accurate, unbiased news and information to our audience, and we will continue to uphold our ethics and principles in all of our work. Thank you for your trust and support.
Website Upgradation is going on for any glitch kindly connect at [email protected]
