India: No clear position on blocking injunctions
Managing IP is part of the Delinian Group, Delinian Limited, 4 Bouverie Street, London, EC4Y 8AX, Registered in England & Wales, Company number 00954730
Copyright © Delinian Limited and its affiliated companies 2024

Accessibility | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Modern Slavery Statement

India: No clear position on blocking injunctions

July saw two orders from two courts in the country, issuing different orders on the same issue of granting John Doe orders. John Doe orders refer to a court granting injunctions on unknown and unlisted defendants. The decisions appear to pose different thresholds for John Doe orders.

The Bombay High Court in Eros International and Another v BSNL & Others denied a carte blanche request to block several hundred websites that allegedly were making available infringing copies of a cinematograph film over which the plaintiff owned the copyright. The Court noted that some of the websites alleged by the plaintiff contained only advertisements for DVDs or just trailers. The Court was not willing to grant a sweeping injunction order against all such websites unless there was clear evidence on record that the entirety of the website only contains illicit material. While subsequently allowing the blocking of certain specified links alone, the Court limited ISPs to block access for only 21 days, barring further extension from the Court, which is as per a statutory mandate in law. Among other safeguards, the Court allowed this limited remedy after the allegation of infringement was verified by an independent services provider, the plaintiff's internal and external counsel.

However, around the same time, the Delhi High Court in Department of Electronics and Information Technology v Star India Pvt Ltd was willing to grant injunctions blocking entire websites on the apprehension of potential webcasts of a sports event for which Star India had obtained the broadcasting rights. This original order was modified on appeal once earlier in 2016, restricting the order to only specific links and not entire websites. This was revised in July 2016, once again allowing blocking of entire websites on the basis that it was very easy to create new infringing links within the same website. The safeguards and thresholds preferred by the Bombay High Court are not mentioned in this Delhi High Court case.

Although several John Doe orders have been issued in the past, the jurisprudence surrounding this area has hardly evolved in India. The difference in these orders is a clear reflection of conflicting view-points. Only more reasoned orders from Indian courts is likely to offer more clarity.

Parthasarathy

R Parthasarathy


Lakshmi Kumaran & SridharanB6/10 Safdarjung EnclaveNew Delhi 110029, IndiaTel: +91 11 41299800Fax:91 11 41299899vlakshmi@lakshmisri.comwww.lslaw.in

more from across site and ros bottom lb

More from across our site

A 36-member team from Zhong Lun Law Firm, including six partners, will join the newly formed East IP Group
The Delhi High Court sided with Ericsson against Indian smartphone maker Lava, bringing the companies' nine-year dispute to a close
We provide a rundown of Managing IP’s news and analysis from the week, and review what’s been happening elsewhere in IP
Tennessee has passed the ELVIS Act, a law that fights against AI models that mimic the voice and likeness of music artists
Rob Stien, chief communications and public policy officer at InterDigital, says the EU has forgotten innovators while trying to solve an issue that doesn’t exist
As Australia’s Qantm IP leans towards being acquired by a private equity company, sources discuss what it could mean for IP firms
Law firms that are conscious of their role in society are more likely to win work, according to a survey of over 23,000 in-house professionals
Nghiem Xuan Bac Pham, managing partner of Vision & Associates, discusses opportunities created by the US-China rift as well as profitability issues facing IP practices
Douglas Leite and two of his colleagues were intrigued by Bhering Advogados’s mission to grow its patent litigation practice
Each week Managing IP speaks to a different IP practitioner about their life and career
Gift this article