Would Boost Piracy & Unauthorised Dissemination Causing Heavy Loss: Delhi HC Restrains Illegal Streaming Of ‘Bigg Boss’ Show
The Delhi High Court has restrained the illegal streaming and broadcast of reality TV show ‘Bigg Boss’ saying that it would boost piracy and unauthorised dissemination causing heavy loss to the plaintiff.
The Court was dealing with a suit filed by Viacom18 Media Private Limited, a leading broadcaster against five domain names namely Biggbos.live, Bigg-boss.in, Bigg-boss17.com, Biggboss17online.com, and Biggbosslive.net seeking protection of rights including reproduction rights in the programme ‘Bigg Boss’ in all formats.
A Single Bench of Justice Prathiba M. Singh observed, “The Bigg Boss programme enjoys enormous popularity even in India and the unauthorized and illegal dissemination of the Bigg Boss programmes, irrespective of past and future seasons, would be clear infringement of the Plaintiff’s copyright of broadcast and reproduction rights. If such mushrooming of websites, which also use the name Bigg Boss, is permitted, it would boost piracy and unatuhorised dissemination causing heavy losses to the Plaintiff, which may have obtained the rights in the said event/programme after making considerable investment.”
The Bench said that the plaintiff’s OTT channel Jio cinema is also a subscription platform and if the illegal websites are permitted to unauthorizedly telecast such programmes, the subscription base of the plaintiff is also likely to be jeopardized.
Advocate Sidharth Chopra appeared for the plaintiff while Advocate P.D. Gupta appeared for the defendants.
‘Bigg Boss’ is a reality show, which is based on the format of international Dutch show ‘Big Brother’ in which the rights are owned by M/s Endemol Shine IP BV. The said show revolves around a number of participants and their interpersonal relationships, who live isolated in a particular premise. The plaintiff had obtained the format rights for this programme, which was recognized vide an agreement for Bigg Boss Hindi, Seasons 17 and 18. ‘Bigg Boss’ programme has been produced and broadcasted in India since 2008. The plaintiff broadcasts the programmes on the television channels Colors and Colors Kannada as also on its OTT platform ‘JioCinema’.
It was the case of the plaintiff that it owned the rights in the format of the show having been licensed the same from M/s Endemol Shine IP BV. In addition, in the original broadcast, which were produced and created in India, the plaintiff owned the cinematographic rights as also the broadcast reproduction rights. The aforementioned domain names i.e., the defendants were running the websites wherein previous seasons and programmes of Bigg Boss were made available in an unauthorised and non-licensed manner for viewing. It was submitted by the plaintiff that the said websites were also advertising and launching the next two seasons to be telecasted on the plaintiff’s platform.
The High Court in the above context noted, “Considering the overall facts, this Court is convinced that the Plaintiff has made out a prima facie case of ex- parte injunction. Irreparable loss/ harm will be caused to Plaintiff if the Defendants are not restrained from illegal and unauthorized telecasting, broadcasting of the Plaintiff’s show BIGG BOSS, either past or present episodes as also the said episodes which are already scheduled for telecast shortly. Balance of convenience would also be in favour of the Plaintiff against the Defendants.”
The Court directed that the domain names of the said websites shall be suspended/locked immediately by the DNRs, to whom the plaintiff shall communicate the exact domain name details to the Grievance Officer of the said DNRs. It further ordered that the DoT (Department of Telecom) and MeiTy (Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology) shall issue blocking orders against these websites, which shall be blocked by all the ISPs (Internet Service Providers) upon receiving communication from the plaintiff or from DOT/MeiTy.
“If any further websites with the name Bigg Boss are found by the Plaintiff, or any other websites which are telecasting illegally the programmes of the Plaintiff, an application shall be filed impleading these websites as parties under Order 1 Rule 10 CPC, 1908, along with an affidavit before the Joint Registrar showing evidence that these are rogue websites infringing the Plaintiff’s exclusive right in broadcasting and telecasting Bigg Boss show. The present injunction shall accordingly extend to those websites as well”, concluded the Court.
Accordingly, the High Court restrained the unauthorised broadcast of the show.
Cause Title- Viacom18Media Private Limited v. Biggbos.live & Ors.
