The Delhi High Court has forbidden certain illegal websites from publishing and streaming the forthcoming films “Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse” and “Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse” to provide Sony Pictures Animation Inc. with immediate relief.
The court declared that “Defendants 1 to 101, as well as all others acting on their behalf, are restrained from posting, streaming, reproducing, distributing, or making publicly available, on their websites or through the internet, in any manner whatsoever, any cinematograph work/content/program in which the plaintiff has copyright, including the films “Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse” and “Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse.” [1]
Additionally, the court has ordered these websites’ access to be blocked by internet service providers (ISPs).
In a lawsuit brought by Sony Pictures Animation, seeking a permanent injunction preventing more than 100 shady websites from publishing and streaming the films, Justice C. Hari Shankar gave the order.
Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse, a follow-up to the 2017 film “Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse,” will debut in India on June 2, according to Sony. It informed the court that it has not granted the film’s broadcasting rights to any other website.
Sony said that several websites, some of which have also promoted the impending airing of the film, are hosting the upcoming movie, which is allegedly already accessible for watching.
In order to qualify as a “rogue website,” according to the Delhi High Court’s guidelines in UTV Software Communication Ltd. vs. 1337X. To, the accused websites easily meet the criteria, according to the defence attorney for Sony. [2]
The court found that the defendants 1 to 101 had violated and were still violating the plaintiff’s copyright in the films “Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse” and “Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse,” according to the circumstances of the case as recounted above.
The court ordered ISPs to prevent access to the websites and any “mirror/redirect/alphanumeric websites” that could be connected to them in addition to prohibiting the websites from streaming the movies.
Additionally, the bench ordered the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) and the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MEITY) to publish a notice requesting that all internet and telecom service providers ban access to the websites. [3]
The lawsuit has been given a summons, and the court has scheduled the case for July 31.
Case Title: Sony Pictures Animation Inc. vs FLIXHD.CC/ & Ors.
Written by- Himanshu Mishra, a student at St. Mother Teresa Law Degree College, Lucknow, 2nd Semester, an intern under Legal Vidhiya.
References:
[1] LIVE LAW, https://www.livelaw.in/high-court/delhi-high-court/delhi-high-court-sony-animation-spider-man-movie-copyright-infringement-229821 (last visited on 1st JUNE 2023);
0 Comments