When the cricket fever has caught on, in the Indian subcontinent with the ICC T20 World Cup matches providing some nail biting excitement, the Hon’ble Delhi Court has, at the perfect moment, granted an interim injunction restraining several entities mainly appearing to be pubs, cafes and restaurants from airing the ICC T20 World Cup matches without the authorization of Star India Pvt ltd. Star India Pvt Ltd, most likely miffed by infringement of its copyright by several cafes and restaurants, by airing the ICC T20 World Cup 2014, has approached the Delhi High court for relief resulting in the aforementioned order, to start with.
What is noteworthy is that the order is ex-parte, the reason for which, in all probabilities would be since the High Court opines that irreparable injury would be caused to the petitioner if no swift action was taken. The ex-parte order is likely to stay till further orders in this regard is passed by the Delhi High Court.
As known by many, disputes relating to airing of cricket matches like the World Cup are not new in India (one example where the same Delhi High Court had restrained several cable operators from telecasting the ICC World Cup 2011 without authorization on a suit filed by ESPN for infringement of its copyright). Considering that India teems with die-hard cricket fans, it is not surprising that time and again, we come across many such issues and for the same reasons, these issues grab more attention than necessary! Having said this, I’m certainly curious to know what the next line of action would be, either by the Petitioner, or the alleged infringers. Would the infringement be totally knocked out or should I say, bowled out? Let’s wait and watch!
Raja Selvam
Founder & Managing Attorney, Selvam & Selvam | Practice areas include Trademarks, Patents, Domain names & Business law. Visiting faculty, Department of Journalism, Madras University where I teach copyrights & trademarks law. Passionate about entrepreneurship, start-ups, stocks, farming, technology and law.
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