Delhi High Court issues dynamic injunction order to halt illegal streaming of Bigg Boss on plea by Viacom18

The Delhi High Court recently issued a dynamic injunction order in favour of Viacom18 to restrain rogue websites from streaming episodes of popular reality show ‘Big Boss.’ [Viacom18 Media Private Limited v. Biggbos.live & Ors].Justice Prathiba M Singh said that Bigg Boss enjoys “enormous popularity” even in India and that any unauthorized dissemination of its episodes would be a clear infringement of Viacom18’s copyright and reproduction rights.."Accordingly, the Defendant Nos.1 to 5 are restrained from broadcasting, telecasting, streaming, retransmitting and hosting any episodes of the Bigg Boss programme, which have already been telecasted or which are likely to be telecasted in near future ... 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 ... Upon filing of such an affidavit, the said domain names shall also be locked/suspended and the blocking orders shall be issued," the Court ordered. .The Court observed that the mushrooming of rogue websites using the name 'Big Boss' would boost piracy and unauthorized dissemination, resulting in heavy losses to Viacom.“The Plaintiff’s (Viacom18) OTT channel Jio cinema is also a subscription platform and if the illegal websites are permitted to unauthorizedly telecast these programmes, the subscription base of the Plaintiff is also likely to be jeopardized,” it said further..The Court passed the order in a suit filed by Viacom18 seeking protection of its rights in ‘Big Boss’ in all formats against at least five websites that were streaming its episodes illegally. It was submitted that Big Boss is based on the format of an international Dutch show Big Brother and that Viacom18 had obtained format rights in the programme from Endemol Shine IP BV.After considering the facts, the Court said that Viacom18 had made out a prima facie case for the grant of an ex-parte injunction since irreparable loss would be caused to it if the errant websites are not restrained from disseminating Bigg Boss episodes..Besides restraining such websites from hosting and streaming any of the episodes, the Court also issued a direction for the suspension of their domain names.The Court also went further and ordered that the injunction would also extend to any other websites found illegally telecasting Big Boss.The Court proceeded to listed the suit by Viacom18 for further consideration on April 9, 2024 after issuing summons in the matter..Advocates Sidharth Chopra, Yatinder Garg, Akshay Maloo, Srishti Dhoundiyal and Priyansh Kohli represented Viacom18 Media.Advocates PD Gupta and Kiran Bala represented an applicant.[Read Order]