The Madras High Court has restrained cable and internet service providers in certain countries from telecasting the football matches to be held at the FIFA World Cup in Qatar from November 20.

Justice M Sundar granted the injunction on Friday while passing interim orders on an application arising out of a civil suit from Viacom18 Media, PTI reported from Chennai.

A report in BarandBench.com, a legal news website, said the interim injunction restrained more than 12,000 websites from illegally broadcasting the FIFA World Cup 2022 in a case titled ‘Viacom18 Media Private Limited v Bharath Sanchar Nigam Limited and others’.

Viacom18, a joint venture between Reliance Industries’ group company and American media giant Paramount, holds the soccer world cup rights for the Indian sub-continent and other nearby countries.

The petitioner has made out a prima facie case for the grant of the injunction, the judge said. It is the owner of the copyright in the sporting event. It will lead to an irreversible situation and therefore, irreparable injury incapable of compensation parameter has also been satisfied, the judge said, according to the PTI report.

“Therefore, there shall be an order of interim injunction restraining the respondents herein or any other person or entity from infringing the copyright in the sporting event ‘FIFA World Cup 2022’ in any manner so as to prevent copying, transmission, communication, displaying, releasing, showing, hosting, streaming, uploading, downloading, exhibiting, playing and exhibition of the event,” the judge said.

If blocking of websites/web pages becomes necessary, the authorities concerned shall do so. The interim injunction shall operate for a period of four weeks, up to December 16 on the above terms, the judge added and posted the matter for further hearing on that day.

Earlier, the plaintiff submitted that it was granted licence and various media rights, including exclusive TV and radio, mobile transmission rights for the territories of of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka by the Federation Internationale De Football Association (FIFA) qua FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022.

In this situation, several cable and internet service providers are involved in illegal activities and unauthorised retransmitting, recording, streaming, audio-visual clips and full sports events that are transmitted by the plaintiff and such activities would cause heavy loss, damage and prejudice to the plaintiff. It has exclusive rights to broadcast the event.

Viacom18 said it has invested substantial sums of money in acquiring the licence and exclusive rights, according to the plea.

FIFA Fan Festival Opens in Qatar: Meanwhile, on the eve of the first FIFA World Cup in the Middle East and Arab world, the FIFA Fan Festival was officially opened at Al Bidda Park on Saturday.

More than 40,000 fans attended the opening, which included DJ sets, a firework display and a thrilling performance of the FIFA Fan Festival anthem Tukoh Taka by Maluma, according to a media statement put out by FIFA.

The FIFA Fan Festival will be open throughout the tournament. It will show every World Cup match live on giant screens, host world-famous artists and feature a range of food and beverage options.

However, ban on sale of alcoholic beverages in the stadiums has been causing heartburns amongst fans and the alcohol sponsor Budweiser. The last-minute decision by the Qatari government did have critics pummelling it. However, FIFA president has defended the host country’s decisions and various initiatives it has undertaken to hold what is termed as the biggest sports show on earth.

The FIFA Fan Festival will feature the following:

• Live broadcasts of every match on giant screens, with views of Doha’s futuristic skyline in the background.

• Concerts starring top global and local music acts and live works by internationally acclaimed performance artists.

• A food court offering unique culinary experiences featuring local cuisine and international delicacies.

• Football matches featuring FIFA Legends and interactive physical and digital football gaming stations for fans of all ages.

• A Fans Cup featuring all 32 qualified nations for Qatar 2022.

• Innovative sponsor activations, as well as an official FIFA Store with licensed FIFA World Cup products