Delhi High Court Directs Centre To Take Action Against Five International DNRs For Non-Compliance Of Judicial Orders

The Delhi High Court has directed the Centre to take action against a total of five Domain Name Registrars for non-compliance of the judicial orders.

Justice Pratibha M. Singh also directed the Department of Telecommunications and Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology to look into the question as to whether the five DNRs ought to be permitted to continue to offer their goods and services in India, if they are not giving effect to the orders of Indian courts and are not complying with the Information Technology Act and IT Rules, 2021.

Justice Singh asked the authorities to take action within one week against the DNRs and file a status report before the court by January 11, 2023.

The court has been hearing a number of cases related to the domain name disputes.

On August 22, in the suit filed by Star India, the court had granted an ex parte ad interim injunction restraining the infringement of the channel's exclusive broadcast rights for Asia Cricket Cup matches and associated content.

On November 9, Star India told the court that five of the DNRs have not complied with the court orders.

The DNRs are NameCheap Inc, Dynadot LLC, Tucows Inc, Gransy s.r.o and Sarek Oy.

NameCheap in response to a communication from Star India regarding Delhi High Court's order had said that it will abide only by a US court's order.

Justice Singh reiterated that all DNRs have to abide by and give effect to orders passed by competent courts and government authorities.

"Moreover, all these DNRs mentioned above and in respect of which directions have been passed by the Court, are offering their services and products in India and are bound by the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 (hereinafter "2021 Rules"). Under the said Rules, they are also obligated to appoint Grievance Officers to ensure compliance of the orders passed by this Court, which they clearly appear not to have complied with," said the bench.

The court also referred to various orders passed by it with regard to the obligations of DNRs and appointment of grievance officers by them.

The Centre told the court that as and when the departments were notified by Star India about infringing websites involved in illegal streaming of content, proper blocking orders were issued.

"If the Court has passed suspension and disclosure orders, the DNRs ought to have taken action in accordance with law. Through VPN networks, these DNRs may still be accessible, thus allowing streaming/hosting/etc. of infringing content to continue," the government counsel told the court.

Case Title: STAR INDIA PRIVATE LIMITED & ANR. v. MHDTV.WORLD & ORS.

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