IT is piracy, not overt online music stores, which is our main competitor- Steve Jobs Digital piracy is often incorrectly portrayed as a victimless crime. Today, almost every sector is a victim of piracy and counterfeiting and it’s had a devastating effect on businesses, economy and society overall.
Our courts have taken reasonable steps to make life more difficult for websites that openly flout copyright. Recently, the Delhi High Court restrained sports platform “Dream11 Team” from using the logo or any other trademark which are “deceptively similar” to that of the Sporta Technologies Private Limited’s trademarks and logo. Sporta is the proprietor of “Dream11″ sports platform who are the sponsors of the Indian Premier League 2020.
Several similar websites have come up riding on the flavour of the season - the IPL. On September 23, Justice Mukta Gupta restrained websites owned by ‘Jackstremas.com and Ors.’ from streaming, hosting, communicating or making available for viewing or downloading in any manner without authorization of the league and the contents related to it. IPL official broadcaster Star India had filed a suit requesting the court to block these websites.
The decision is yet another attempt to tighten the noose around such miscreants. Over the years, ‘rogue websites’ have become a peril for e-businesses by degrading the goodwill earned through years of service. Similarly, when it comes to music and sound recordings, downloading music from unauthorised websites has become normal for audiences who are not even aware that such distribution of music is illegal.
Another disturbing trend is hackers using false and fraudulent websites and URL links to deceive people into disclosing valuable personal data, phishing schemes which is used later to swindle money from victim’s account.
The Delhi High Court, with strings of judgments, have issued blocking orders in past to cut down the threat. India’s first dynamic injunction came in April 2019 in the judgment of UTV & Ors. vs 1337x.to & Ors., putting a control on websites resurfacing with a different name, by extending an existing injunction to new websites which could emerge with a different name in the future. The high court, in last few months, has issued orders protecting brands like Amul, Disney and Snapdeal from fake websites, illegal streaming and trademark infringement, respectively. The Madras High Court in 2012 had affirmed the possibility of a suit against internet service providers to block access to webpages upon notification by the copyright owner.
Though orders are being passed in a required manner, there are certain areas which still need to be pondered into. Is it actually going to help if courts proceed with granting ex parte orders without the presence of defendants or their representatives and without giving them fair and equal chances to be heard?
The Internet offers expanded commercial opportunities for intellectual property (IP) rights holders but also increases the potential for copyright and trademark infringement. It has received significant attention from courts in India and abroad to provide for a solution to protect the rightsholders interests in a digital economy. Measures should be taken to make it more and more difficult to access such ‘rouge websites’.
Tishya Pandey
Technology, Media and Telecom (TMT) Lawyer