The Delhi High Court restrained the unauthorised broadcast of the television reality show Bigg Boss as the mushrooming of websites illegally streaming its content could boost piracy.
According to India Today, the lawsuit, which was filed by Viacom18 Media Private Limited, stated that the show enjoys 'enormous popularity' and that any illegal dissemination of its content, regardless of previous or upcoming seasons, would violate the plaintiff's copyright regarding the programme's broadcast and reproduction rights.
The plaintiff further told the court that Bigg Boss airs in different formats, including in Hindi, on both television and an OTT platform. However, many websites that have Bigg Boss as their domain name are streaming the show in an unauthorised and non-licenced manner for public viewing.
As per India Today, Justice Prathiba M Singh in a recent interim order said, "Accordingly, the defendant nos.1 to 5 are restrained from broadcasting, telecasting, streaming, retransmitting, and hosting any episode of the Bigg Boss programme which have already been telecast or which are likely to be telecast in the 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 impleading these websites. The present injunction shall accordingly extend to those websites as well,” the judge added.
In continuation of the India Today report, the court addressed the topic of the infringing websites, and stated, "If such mushrooming of websites, which also use the name Bigg Boss, is permitted, it would boost piracy and unauthorised dissemination, causing heavy losses to the plaintiff, which may have obtained the rights in the said event or programme after making considerable investment."
The court noted that Bigg Boss is aired on JioCinema, which is a subscription-based platform, and that the show's illegal streaming on these non-licenced websites would jeopardise the subscription base of the OTT platform.
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