The Delhi High Court has stepped in to curb the unauthorised online streaming of major cricket tournaments, directing authorities to block multiple websites accused of illegally broadcasting matches for which Sony Pictures Networks India holds exclusive media rights.
Passing an ex parte interim order in Sony Pictures Networks India Pvt. Ltd. v. Cricfree & Others, Justice Jyoti Singh observed that digital piracy cannot be allowed to erode legitimate broadcasting rights and underscored the need for strong judicial intervention.
Finding that Sony had established a prima facie case, the Court ordered the suspension and blocking of several websites, including cricfree.cyou, thegamesurf.com, topstream.pro, crichd.top, cracksports.me, mainstreams.io, qatarstreams.me, and vipstand.cc.
The Court remarked that piracy poses a serious threat to intellectual property rights, observing that such unlawful activities must be addressed firmly.
Exclusive Rights Over Major Cricket Events
Sony informed the Court that it possesses exclusive broadcasting and commercial exploitation rights for a wide range of international cricket tournaments and other sporting competitions. These include the ongoing India Tour of England (Men’s) 2026 and India Tour of England (Women’s) 2026, along with The Hundred 2026, Asia Cup tournaments, India’s cricket tours of Sri Lanka, New Zealand, and Ireland, as well as the Asian Games 2026.
The broadcaster also highlighted its extensive sports and entertainment network, operating multiple television channels and digital platforms through which it delivers premium sports content to viewers.
Court Finds Immediate Intervention Necessary
According to Sony, the defendant websites were repeatedly making live sports broadcasts available without authorisation while concealing the identities of those operating the platforms through domain privacy services. The company described the portals as rogue websites designed primarily to facilitate copyright infringement.
Taking note of the ongoing India-England cricket series, the Court held that delaying relief would cause continuing and irreparable harm to Sony’s exclusive rights, making immediate protective measures necessary.
Accordingly, the Court restrained the identified websites from hosting, communicating, streaming, screening or otherwise making available any portion of the protected sporting events without prior authorisation.
Directions to Registrars, ISPs and Government Authorities
The High Court also instructed domain name registrars to disable the offending domain names and furnish all available details relating to the operators, including email addresses, contact numbers, KYC records and other identifying information. These details are to be submitted to the Court in a sealed cover or through a password-protected document.
Internet service providers have been directed to block public access to the identified websites. In addition, the Department of Telecommunications and the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology have been asked to issue the necessary directions to ensure compliance with the blocking order.
To prevent fresh instances of infringement during the tournaments, the Court also granted Sony a dynamic injunction, enabling it to seek blocking of any newly identified mirror or rogue websites that begin illegally streaming the protected sporting events while the competitions remain underway.
