New Delhi,  6 Jan

The Delhi High Court has restrained over 160 websites from illegally streaming and distributing copyrighted films and television shows owned by Warner Bros Entertainment Inc, and ordered internet service providers to block access to them.

Justice Tejas Karia passed the interim order on a plea filed by Warner Bros, which claimed authorship, ownership or exclusive distribution rights over several popular titles in India.

The court said the studio had established a prima facie case and warned that continued infringement would cause irreparable harm and significant financial loss.

The restrained websites were accused of hosting and enabling illegal downloads of shows such as 'Friends', 'Stranger Things' (Seasons 1–4) and 'Squid Game', along with films including 'Wonder Woman', 'The Jungle Book', 'A Star Is Born' and 'The Conjuring 2'.

Noting the “hydra-headed nature” of piracy platforms, the court granted a “dynamic+ injunction”, allowing Warner Bros to seek swift action against mirror or newly created websites hosting the same infringing content.

The court also directed domain name registrars to lock and suspend the infringing domains and submit detailed subscriber information of the operators in a sealed or password-protected format within four weeks.

Internet service providers have been instructed to block access to the listed websites with immediate effect