SUN TV NETWORK LTD Vs. ROYAL CABLE VISION

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE plaintiff M/s. Sun TV Network Limited has sought for prohibitory injunction as against the defendant in O. A. No. 955 of 2008 and the defendant, on its part, has sought for rejection of the plaint in C. S. No. 838 of 2008 in Application No. 4246 of 2008 filed by it.

(2.) BOTH the applications were taken up for common disposal.

(3.) THE plaintiffs would contend that they are a leading Television Network in South India. They invested huge amount for diffusing the system of uplinking various programmes to satellite and facilitating downloading of such programmes by authorised Multi-System Operators (MSOs ). The plaintiffs have authorised persons in various areas across the whole of India by executing subscription agreements on payments of subscription charges as per the schedule. Only such persons are entitled to receive the signals of the petitioners channels for onward transmission to the Cable TV operators. The defendant is a Multi-System Operator and/or Cable Operator who do not have any subscription agreement with the plaintiffs or their Distributor to tap/receive the signals of the channels of the plaintiffs. The plaintiffs' pay channels cannot be viewed by those who do not subscribe to the same. The defendant is unauthorisedly and illegally transmitting the plaintiffs' channels by stealing the plaintiffs' signals in a systematic and scientific manner. Illegal tapping of the plaintiffs' signals by the defendant and its attached Cable TV Operators are going unabated. Neither the defendant nor its agents or the attached cable operators has any right to download the signals of the plaintiffs for onward transmission to the end users. The defendant filed a petition before TDSAT. An order has been passed by it. The learned counsel appearing for the defendant had assured that there would not be any piracy of signals. The plaintiffs, being the owner of the copyright over the signals, are entitled to Copyright infringement and protect their rights against unauthorised transmission and further communication to the public. Several individuals including Advocates have sworn to affidavits substantiating the theft of signals by the defendant. Section 62 of the copyright Act, 1957 confers territorial jurisdiction on this court. Rebroadcasting of the broadcasting of the plaintiffs by the defendant amounts to infringement of copyright. There is no bar under the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) Act, 1997 in respect of suits filed under the Copyright Act. Therefore, the plaintiffs have sought for interim injunction as against the defendants and also for dismissal of the application seeking rejection of the plaint.