Balaji V. BSNL & Ors

R2-NMSL1940-16-F.DOC SHEPHALI IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY ORDINARY ORIGINAL CIVIL JURISDICTION NOTICE OF MOTION (L) NO. 1940 OF 2016 IN SUIT (L) NO. 694 OF 2016 Balaji Motion Pictures Ltd. & Anr. …Plaintiffs Versus Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. & Ors. …Defendants Mr. V. R. D !"#$ Senior A#'!()*%, a/w Mr. Shailesh Mandon, Mr. N. Rodriguse, i/b R. M. Partners, for the Plaintiffs. CORAM+ G.S. PATEL$ J DATED+ 1-* J./y 2016 ,C+1 1. Not on board. Mentioned. Ta$en on board. 2. #he matter is mo%ed on &roduction at '.(( &.m. It see$s a )*ohn Doe+Asho$ ,umar- order in the no. common form in res&ect of a film Great Grand Masti. #he release date of the film is Bombay//nd *ul0 2(16. High Court 2. #he Plaint has the usual arra0 of the !efendants3 some ca"le operators4 some intermediaries and4 of course4 the usual *ohn Doe + Ashok ,umar generic !efendants. It also has a list of some 5(( Page 1 of 3 1st July 2016 ::: Uploaded on - 04/07/2016 ::: Downloaded on - 05/07/2016 11:33:46 ::: R2-NMSL1940-16-F.DOC websites 6not indi%idual do.nload lin$s7 against .hich s.ee&ing reliefs are sought. #his list of .e"site 89Ls runs from &ages 1: to /; of the Plaint. #he list does not include one single link to a s&ecific digital file for do.nload. #hese 89Ls all &oint to, and onl0 to, entire we"sites. 4. I am not &re&ared to gi%e a general direction against an0 of these .e"sites. Such an order assumes4 ex hypothesi4 that e%er0 single "it of digital matter on e%er0 single one of these .e"sites is not just illicit, "ut that all of this matter on all these .e"sites relates to, and onl0 to, illicit do.nloads of the Plaintiffs< film. #here is a"solutel0 nothing to su&&ort this. 3. I am no. informed that the immediate concern is the #orrent lin$ at &age 21 of the Plaint. #here is also a screenshot of a #.itter &ost that a&&arentl0 re&orts a lea$ of the censor cop0 of the film. I do not $no. .hat to ma$e of this #.itter &ost for the sim&le reason = and this is not dis&uted toda0 = that the #orrent lin$ at &age 21 is admittedl0 defunct and no longer acti%e. In other .ords4 there is nothing in the Plaint "e0ond the #.itter &ost to &oint to an0 acti%e illicit do.nload link. #here is no demonstra"le "asis for the relief sought. 6. >i%en this4 I do not see at this stage .hat relief ca" Bombaylegitimatel0 "e sought against High a raft of .e"sites on Court a &leading as s$etch0 and formless as this. Some of those .e"sites ma0 indeed ha%e legitimate content. An order li$e the one the Plaintiffs see$ .ould result in a large?scale "loc$ing of all these .e"sites4 and a Page 2 of 3 1st July 2016 ::: Uploaded on - 04/07/2016 ::: Downloaded on - 05/07/2016 11:33:46 ::: R2-NMSL1940-16-F.DOC denial of access to all their content, e%en legitimate content; and that, too, without an0 assessment of what that content actuall0 is. 4. While this Plaint does refer to a &re%ious order I &assed recentl04 it is eBuall0 true that in that %er0 order4 a cop0 of .hich is at &age 2C4 I e%en then eD&ressed a reser%ation a"out such unrestricted .ides&read orders. In that matter4 I reBuired the Plaintiffs to &roduce a list of indi%idual lin$s to do.nloads. I ha%e no such list before me toda0. 5. #hus4 the onl0 order I can &ossi"l0 ma$e toda0 is to grant the Plaintiffs li"erty to rene. their a&&lication on more a&&ropriate and cogent material. #o lea%e no room for contro%ers0 as to .hat I mean "0 this4 the Plaintiffs must ensure that the0 &lace on Affida%it a list 6the length does not matter7 of indi%idual links that &oint to illicit do.nloads of the film. #hat list on Affida%it must "e %erified "0 some res&onsi"le4 technicall0 Bualified &erson; and the Affida%it must state that a technicall0 com&etent officer of the Plaintiffs has chec$ed4 if not all4 at least a sufficient sam&ling of these links so as to warrant the grant of an injunction. 9. I am also ma$ing it clear that an0 such injunction ma0 "e su"jected to further terms4 and4 s&ecificall0 that I &ropose to time? limit the order to some reasona"le &eriod and not to allo. it to Bombaycontinue indefinitel0. High Court (G. S. ,ATEL$ J.) Page 3 of 3 1st July 2016 ::: Uploaded on - 04/07/2016 ::: Downloaded on - 05/07/2016 11:33:46 :::.

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