Delhi High Court – Orders
Jiostar India Private Limited vs Serialmaza.My & Ors on 8 August, 2025
Author: Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora
Bench: Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora
$~41
* IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI
+ CS(COMM) 810/2025 & I.As. 19337-40/2025
JIOSTAR INDIA PRIVATE LIMITED .....Plaintiff
Through: Mr. Sidharth Chopra, Mr. Yatinder
Garg, Mr. Priyansh Kohli and Ms.
Ishi Singh, Advocates
versus
SERIALMAZA.MY & ORS. .....Defendant
Through: Ms. Aishwarya Kane, Advocate for
D-41
CORAM:
HON'BLE MS. JUSTICE MANMEET PRITAM SINGH ARORA
ORDER
% 08.08.2025
I.A. 19338/2025 (seeking exemption from pre-institution mediation)
1. This is an application under Section 12A(1) of the Commercial Courts
Act, 2015 [‘Act of 2015’] read with Section 151 of the Code of Civil
Procedure, 1908 [‘CPC‘], filed by the Plaintiff seeking exemption from
instituting pre-litigation mediation.
2. Having regard to the fact that the present suit contemplates urgent
interim relief and in light of the judgement of the Supreme Court in Yamini
Manohar v. T.K.D. Keerthi1, exemption from the requirement of pre-
institution mediation is granted to the plaintiff.
3. Accordingly, the application stands disposed of.
I.A. 19339/2025
4. This is an application under Section 80 read with Section 151 CPC
seeking exemption from issuing notices to the Defendant nos. 48, 51, 56 and
57.
1
(2024) 5 SCC 815
CS(COMM) 810/2025 Page 1 of 13
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5. For the reasons stated in the application, exemption is granted.
6. Accordingly, this application is disposed of.
I.A. 19340/2025
7. This is an application filed under Order XI Rule 1(4) of CPC [as
amended by the Act of 2015] read with Section 151 CPC seeking leave to
file additional documents.
8. The Plaintiff, if it wishes to file additional documents at a later stage,
shall do so strictly as per the provisions of the Commercial Courts Act and
the Delhi High Court (Original Side) Rules, 2018 [‘DHC Rules’].
9. For the reasons stated in the application, the same is allowed.
10. Accordingly, the application is disposed of.
CS(COMM) 810/2025
11. Let the plaint be registered as a suit.
12. Issue summons to Defendant nos. 1 to 35. In the peculiar facts of this
case, summons be issued by the registry to the said Defendants through e-
mode on filing of process fee. Affidavit of service(s) be filed within two (2)
weeks.
13. Since Defendant no. 36 to 57 have been impleaded only for seeking
compliances of directions issued qua Defendant nos. 1 to 35, no summons
are being issued to the said Defendant nos. 36 to 57 at this stage. Notice in
I.A. 19337/2025 has been issued to said defendants.
14. Defendant No. 58 is stated to be John Doe/Ashok Kumar and
therefore issuance of summons to the said defendants is deferred.
15. The summons shall indicate that the written statement(s) must be filed
within thirty (30) days from the date of receipt of the summons. The
CS(COMM) 810/2025 Page 2 of 13
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Defendant nos. 1 to 35 shall also file affidavit(s) of admission/denial of the
documents filed by the Plaintiff, failing which the written statement(s) shall
not be taken on record.
16. The Plaintiff is at liberty to file replication(s) thereto within thirty (30)
days after filing of the written statement(s). The replication(s) shall be
accompanied by affidavit(s) of admission/denial in respect of the documents
filed by Defendant nos. 1 to 35, failing which the replication(s) shall not be
taken on record.
17. The parties shall file all original documents in support of their
respective claims along with their respective pleadings. In case parties are
placing reliance on a document, which is not in their power and possession,
its detail and source shall be mentioned in the list of reliance, which shall
also be filed with the pleadings.
18. It is made clear that any unjustified denial of documents may lead to
an order of costs against the concerned party.
19. Any party seeking inspection of documents may do so in accordance
with the Delhi High Court (Original Side) Rules, 2018.
20. List before the learned Joint Registrar (J) for completion of service
and pleadings on 18.09.2025.
21. List before the Court on 20.01.2026.
I.A. 19337/2025 (Under Order XXXIX Rule 1 and 2 CPC)
22. This is an application on behalf of the Plaintiff under Order XXXIX
Rules 1 & 2 read with Section 151 of CPC seeking grant of ad-interim
injunction against the Defendants.
23. The present suit has been filed by the Plaintiff seeking permanent
injunction restraining infringement of its copyright and broadcast
CS(COMM) 810/2025 Page 3 of 13
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reproduction rights, under the Copyright Act, 1957 [‘the Copyrights Act‘]
on account of unlawful activities by Defendant nos. 1 to 35 in
facilitating/enabling/authorizing access to the public of the Plaintiff’s
exclusive copyright in content, inter alia, films, general entertainment,
content, original web-series [‘plaintiff’s content’].
24. The Defendant nos. 36 to 46 have been arrayed, who are Domain
Name Registrars [‘DNRs’] for the infringing websites.
25. The Defendant nos. 47 to 55 are various Internet Service Providers
[‘ISPs’] available domestically in India, who provide access to internet in
India.
26. The Defendant no. 56 is the Department of Telecommunication
[‘DOT’], while Defendant no. 57 is Ministry of Electronics and Information
Technology [‘MEITY’].
27. The Defendant no. 58 has been arrayed as ‘Ashok Kumar’ which is a
generic name [as John Doe] to include all those who in the future may be
discovered as using the Plaintiff’s content.
28. The relevant facts as stated in the plaint are as under: –
28.1 It is stated that the Plaintiff owns and operates the online audio-visual
streaming platform and website, ‘www.hotstar.com’, and the mobile
application, ‘JioHotstar’, formerly known as ‘Disney+ Hotstar’ [hereinafter
collectively referred to as ‘JioHotstar’]. It is stated that the Plaintiff through
its TV Channels and OTT platforms offers over 100,000 hours of programs
across genres and various languages.
28.2 It is stated that apart from owning and managing JioHotstar, the
Plaintiff is also the producer or the exclusive assignee or licensee of web-
series original content, in various languages including Hindi and English,
CS(COMM) 810/2025 Page 4 of 13
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which is made accessible only on JioHotstar.
28.3 It is stated that the Plaintiff also has the exclusive rights in the content
on TV Shows, films and/or web-series which are communicated on ‘JioStar’
Channels. It is stated that one of the exclusive rights of the Plaintiff is to
communicate such films/original content/television shows to the public at
large. It is pleaded that “communication to the public” has been defined
under Section 2(ff) of the Copyrights Act. And, therefore, the Plaintiff has
the exclusive right to make its work, including original content/television
shows/films/web-series, available for being seen or heard or otherwise
enjoyed by the public directly or by any means of display or diffusion
including by means of television, cable, satellite or internet [websites and
applications].
28.4 It is stated that any person who interferes with or exploits any of the
said rights without permission of the Plaintiff would be deemed to be
infringing the Plaintiff’s copyright in terms of Section 51 of the Copyrights
Act.
28.5 It is alleged that Defendant nos. 1 to 35 are rogue websites that
communicate, make available to, and provide access to public, Plaintiff’s
content without any authorization from various right owners, including the
Plaintiff. The Plaintiff has further pleaded that Defendant nos. 1 to 35 are
illegally broadcasting multiple content, which exclusively belongs to the
Plaintiff.
29. Mr. Sidharth Chopra, learned counsel for the Plaintiff submits that the
content on ‘JioHotstar’ and the ‘JioStar’ Channels produced by the Plaintiff
and/or exclusively licensed to the Plaintiff forms the subject matter of the
instant suit.
CS(COMM) 810/2025 Page 5 of 13
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29.1. He submits that as averred in paragraph nos. 5, 8 and 11 of the plaint,
Plaintiff is the producer/right-holder of various TV shows, films and/or web-
series which are disseminated on ‘JioStar’ Channels and/or ‘JioHotstar’ and
have the exclusive distribution rights to publicly exhibit and communicate
the said content through any medium or more, including on the ‘JioStar’
Channels or ‘JioHotstar’.
29.2. He states that the content is protected as ‘cinematograph films’ under
Section 2(f) read with Section 13 of the Copyrights Act. He asserts that
Defendant nos. 1 to 35 are liable for infringement of copyright under Section
51 of the Copyrights Act. And, the various ‘exclusive rights’ that, inter alia,
would be deemed to have been infringed and violated by the defendant nos.
1 to 35 are:
a. the rights of making a copy of plaintiff’s cinematograph films
including the storing of it in any medium by electronic or other
means;
b. the right of communicating plaintiff’s cinematographs films to the
public.
29.3. He submits that copyright infringement notices under the Digital
Millennium Copyright Act, 1998 [‘DMC Act‘] have been duly addressed
and issued to each of the rogue websites, and are placed on record. He
submits that none of the defendants have responded to the same.
29.4. He has drawn this Court’s attention to the decision of the Coordinate
Bench of this Court in UTV Software Communication v. 1337X.TO &
Ors.2, wherein the Court has deliberated in detail on the issues involved2
2019 SCC OnLine Del 8002CS(COMM) 810/2025 Page 6 of 13
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around infringing websites. In the said decision, the Court has formulated
certain illustrative guidelines for the Courts to assess while determining
whether an infringing website would be considered as promoting or offering
pirated content. For ease of reference, an extract from the decision is as
under: –
“59. In the opinion of this Court, some of the factors to be
considered for determining whether the website complained of is a
FIOL/Rogue Website are:
a. whether the primary purpose of the website is to commit or
facilitate copyright infringement;
b. the flagrancy of the infringement, or the flagrancy of the
facilitation of the infringement;
c. whether the detail of the registrant is masked and no
personal or traceable detail is available either of the
Registrant or of the user.
d. whether there is silence or inaction by such website after
receipt of take down notices pertaining to copyright
infringement.
e. whether the online location makes available or contains
directories, indexes or categories of the means to infringe,
or facilitate an infringement of copyright;
f. whether the owner or operator of the online location
demonstrates a disregard for copyright generally;
g. whether access to the online location has been disabled by
orders from any court of another country or territory on the
ground of or related to copyright infringement;
h. whether the website contains guides or instructions to
circumvent measures, or any order of any court, that
disables access to the website on the ground of or related to
copyright infringement; and
i. the volume of traffic at or frequency of access to the
website;
j. Any other relevant matter.
60. This Court clarifies that the aforementioned factors are
illustrative and not exhaustive and do not apply to intermediaries asCS(COMM) 810/2025 Page 7 of 13
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they are governed by IT Act, having statutory immunity and
function in a wholly different manner.”
30. This Court has heard the learned counsel for the plaintiff and perused
the record.
31. The illustrative list of content to which the plaintiff claims its
copyright and which is being made available through the infringing websites
of Defendant nos. 1 to 35, as set-out at paragraph nos. 4 and 11 of the plaint
and the synopsis, is reproduced as under:
S. Name of the Plaintiff’s Content S. Name of the Plaintiff’s Content
No. (Original Content/Film/TV No. (Original Content/Film/TV Show)
Show)
1. 12th Fail 2. Drishyam 2
3. Salaar Part 1 Ceasefire 4. The Lion King
5. Neru 6. Naa Saami Ranga
7. Bramhastra Part One: Shiva 8. Descendants: The Rise of Red
9. Inside Out 10. Cadaver
11. Manjummel Boys 12. Avatar: The Way of Water
13. Dus June ki Raat 14. Anupamaa
15. Tangled 16. Mrs. Doubtfire
17. Toy Story 4 18. Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai
19. Cruella 20. Sanju
21. Hey Sinamika 22. Avengers Infinity War
23. Kings of Kotha 24. Thor: Ragnarok
25. Guardians of The Galaxy 26. Chutney Sambar
27. The Maze Runner 28. Bheeshma Parvam
29. Neymar 30. Vadhuvu
31. Loki 32. Label
33. Bhaag Milkha Bhaag 34. Darling
35. Padmaavat 36. Mary Kom
37. Laal Singh Chaddha 38. Andhadhun
39. OMG 2 40. Sarzameen
41. Bigg Boss 42. Pill
43. Tali 44. Taaza Khabar
45. Motu Patlu 46. Ghum Hai Kisikey Pyaar Mein
CS(COMM) 810/2025 Page 8 of 13
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47. Laughter Chefs 48. Legends of Hanuman
49. Athidhi
32. It is the plaintiff’s case that the plaintiff has an exclusive right under
Section 14(d) of the Copyrights Act over the aforementioned content and by
virtue of Section 37 of the Copyrights Act, the exclusive right to broadcast,
rebroadcast, transmit and communicate to the public on the JioStar Channels
and the JioHotstar platform.
33. The plaintiff has averred that defendant nos. 1 to 35 are liable for
infringement under the provisions of Section 51 of the Copyrights Act. The
plaintiff has placed on record the screenshots of the websites of defendant
nos. 1 to 35 to substantiate that the said defendants are infringing the
plaintiff’s copyright.
In this regard, he has handed over a table enumerating the infringing
content streaming on the website of each of the Defendant nos. 1 to 35. This
table contains the details of the documents filed along with the plaint vis-à-
vis each Defendant, which show the illegal activities of Defendant nos. 1 to
35. The said table also contains the corresponding page nos. of the relevant
documents filed along with the plaint. The said list is marked as Annexure-A
and taken on record.
34. Upon a perusal of the documents placed on record, this Court is of the
prima facie view that Defendant nos. 1 to 35 are infringing the Plaintiff’s
statutory rights by streaming, displaying, hosting, reproducing and making
available to the public, the content which is exclusively owned by the
Plaintiff. In view of the aforesaid, this Court is of the prima facie opinion
that the Plaintiff has established a case for grant of ex-parte ad-interim
CS(COMM) 810/2025 Page 9 of 13
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injunction in its favour and against the Defendants. The balance of
convenience also lies in favour of the Plaintiff and irreparable loss would be
caused to the Plaintiff if the Defendant nos. 1 to 35 are not restrained from
infringing the Plaintiff’s content.
35. Accordingly, till the next date of hearing the following directions are
issued:
a. Defendant nos.1 to 35 including their owners, partners,
proprietors, officers, servants, affiliates, employees, and all
others in capacity of principal or agent acting for and on its
behalf, or anyone claiming through, by or under it, are
restrained from in any manner communicating to the public,
hosting, storing, reproducing, streaming, broadcasting, re-
broadcasting, causing to be seen or heard by public on payment
of charge and/or making available for viewing Plaintiff’s
content through their websites including those listed as under:
S.NO. Websites Name
1. serialmaza.my
2. 5movierulz.cash
3. zolomovies.biz
4. tudhadkanmaindil.com
5. yomovies1.bond
6. tamildhool.net
7. sungohd.com
8. vegamovies-nl.quest
9. vegamovies-nl.bio
10. shivshaktiserials.com
11. movies4u.mba
CS(COMM) 810/2025 Page 10 of 13
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12. movienest.lol
13. mkvcinemas.men
14. mangallakshmiserial.com
15. khatronkekhiladi.net
16. hdmovie2.yoga
17. bolly4u.video
18. biggbosstoday.net
19. biggbossott3.com
20. bdhdmusic23.cc
21. hdhub4u.fail
22. hdhub4u.family
23. hdmovie2.computer
24. hdmovie2.shoes
25. q.hdhc.site
26. bromovies.tv
27. bollyflix.dance
28. 5movierulz.life
29. 5movierulz.dance
30. 1pogolinks.site
31. 1tamilcrow.net
32. biggboss.my
33. fullserials.xatab.top
34. go5pm.com
35. ww1.couchtuner.guru
b. Defendant nos. 36 to 46 are directed to lock and
suspend/deactivate the abovementioned domains/sub-domains
of the infringing websites.
CS(COMM) 810/2025 Page 11 of 13
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c. Defendant nos. 36 to 46 are directed to disclose complete
details [inter alia name, address, email, phone number and IP
address] of Defendant nos. 1 to 35, and mode of payment along
with payment details used for registrations of the said domain
names. The said disclosure shall be made by an affidavit and be
filed before this Court within a period of four weeks.
d. Defendant nos. 47 to 55 [ISPs] are directed to block access to
these infringing websites tabulated above, within 48 hours of
receipt of this order.
e. Defendant nos. 56 [i.e. DoT] and 57 [i.e., MEITY] shall take
steps to ensure that ISPs comply with the directions issued
above, through appropriate communications and notices sent to
the said ISPs, including other ISPs which are registered with
them.
f. In case, there is any work in respect whereof there is any
dispute as to the ownership of the copyright, an application may
be moved by the affected party before the Court, to seek
clarification.
36. In the facts of this case, the Plaintiff has also prayed for a dynamic
injunction to protect its copyrighted works from the hydra-headed websites,
as soon as they are created. This Court is satisfied in the facts of this case
dynamic injunction ought to be issued to protect the Plaintiff’s copyrighted
works.
36.1. It is thus further directed that if any other
mirror/alphanumeric/similar/redirect variation of the websites identified in
the suit as Defendant Nos. 1 to 35 are found to be directly or indirectly
CS(COMM) 810/2025 Page 12 of 13
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infringing Plaintiff’s rights, the Plaintiff will be at liberty to file an
appropriate application under Order I Rule 10 CPC for impleading the said
websites along with an affidavit with sufficient supporting evidence for
seeking extension of the injunction to such websites. Upon filing such
applications before the Registrar, if the Registrar is satisfied, the websites
will be impleaded and the injunction shall be made operational against the
said newly impleaded websites.
37. The provisions of Order XXXIX Rule 3 CPC shall be complied
within one (1) week from today.
38. In the peculiar facts of this case, issue notice to Defendant nos. 1 to
57 through e-mode, by the registry.
39. Let the reply to this application be filed within a period of three (3)
weeks.
40. Rejoinder thereto, if any, be filed within a period of three (3) weeks
thereafter.
41. List before the learned Joint Registrar (J) on 18.09.2025.
42. List before the Court on 20.01.2026.
43. The digitally signed copy of this order, duly uploaded on the official
website of the Delhi High Court, www.delhihighcourt.nic.in, shall be treated
as a certified copy of the order for the purpose of ensuring compliance. No
physical copy of order shall be insisted by any authority/entity or litigant.
MANMEET PRITAM SINGH ARORA, J
AUGUST 8, 2025/rhc/MG
CS(COMM) 810/2025 Page 13 of 13
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