Saregama India Ltd. v. Dishnet Wireless Ltd. & Ors.
(2014) 2 Cal LT 556
In the High Court at Calcutta
GA 660, 1195, 1360/2012 and CS 85/2012
Before Justice I.P. Mukerji
Decided on April 07, 2014

Relevancy of the Case: Issuing directions to CERT-In for blocking sites involved in the infringement of the plaintiff’s copyright over songs

Statutes and Provisions Involved

• The Information Technology Act, 2000 (Section 69, 88)

Relevant Facts of the Case

• According to the plaintiff, random websites post and upload their songs without authorisation. Annexure F of their submission contains a list of these websites.

Prominent Arguments by the Advocates

• The seventh defendant’s counsel submitted that the defendant only transmits electronic signals. They have no control over the material being transmitted. They do not have any role in the publication of any content on websites. The connection between a computer and an internet service is a very complex network. In this network, the defendant only transmits signals for a particular part of the network. The counsel further contended that blocking the website entirely also blocks material that is not infringing.
• The seventh defendant’s counsel further urged the court to vacate its order restraining Annexure F sites from posting Saregama songs.

Opinion of the Bench

• As per Sections 69 and 88 of the Information Technology Act, 2000, CERT-In is the designated authority to issue instructions for blocking websites.
• Blocking of websites is a highly technical matter. It is different from preventing the publication of a book or magazine.

Final Decision

• The court issued directions to CERT-In to implement the existing interim order by issuing the necessary directions for blocking websites.

Ria Verma, an undergraduate student at Symbiosis Law School, Noida, prepared this case summary during her internship with The Cyber Blog India in January/February 2021.