In a landmark case (Akuate Internet Service & Anr v. Star India & Anr.) ,decided on 30th August 2013, concerning the applicability of ‘hot news’ doctrine in India, the Delhi High
Court replied in negative and concluded that hot news doctrine does not apply
in India. The basic question before the Court was ‘is there a copyright or any
other kind of right, such as right to protect ‘hot news’ in the scores in a
cricket match’?
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Background
In 2012, by an Agreement, BCCI granted
exclusive broadcasting rights to Star TV to disseminate the information/content
emanating from the cricket matches. Also, other copyrights emanating from
recording of the live match too were assigned which included the right to
record, reproduce, broadcast, etc. Later on, Cricbuzz, Idea Cellular and
ONMOBILE started SMS services providing contemporaneous ball-by ball coverage
of live cricket matches. Star TV India
(plaintiff) filed three suits against Piyush Agarwal (Cricbuzz), Idea
Cellular and ONMOBILE (Defendants)
Issues
Now, the main point of dispute in the instant
case was the ‘mobile distribution rights’ granted by BCCI (Board of control for
cricket in India) to STAR TV. These rights were a part of the exclusive
broadcasting rights and other related rights in respect of cricket matches such
as right to record, reproduce and broadcast the match events. The plaintiff
objected to the defendants’ dissemination of ball-by-ball and minute-by-minute
match information and alerts through live score cards, score alerts and match
updates.
