Sporta Technologies Pvt Ltd & ANR. v. Dream11 Prime And Others
$~9 * IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI + SPORTA TECHNOLOGIES PVT LTD & ANR.
.....Plaintiffs Through:
Mr. Rohan Krishna Seth with Mr.
Ritwik Marwaha, Advs.
versus DREAM11 PRIME AND OTHERS .....Defendants Through:
Mr. Vikrant N. Goyal, Mr. Arun Kumar Yadav, Mr. Kunal Dixit & Mr.
Prince Balyan, Advs. for D-62 and 63.
Ms. Sreeja Sengupta, counsel for D52, 54, 57, 60, 123, 222
CORAM:
HON'BLE MS. JUSTICE MANMEET PRITAM SINGH ARORA
O R D E R
% 29.08.2025 I.A. 12256/2025 (Order XIIIA Rule 3 and 6 CPC) I.A. 9344/2020 (Order XXXIX Rule 1 and 2 CPC) 1.
The Plaintiff has filed the present suit seeking restraint against the infringement of Plaintiff's registered trademarks DREAM11 CHAMPIONS, , , , , , (hereinafter, the 'DREAM11 trademarks'), passing off, and other ancillary reliefs. Case setup in the plaint 2.
The relevant facts, as stated in the pleading, are as under:- 2.1 Plaintiff launched its popular fantasy sports platform under the brand The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above.
'Dream11' in the year 2012, and since then (and as on the date of filing of the present suit) it has been the official sponsor of International Council of Cricket (ICC), The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Premiera Division (La Liga), Vivo Indian Premier League (IPL), KFC Big Bash League (BBL), Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL) T20, etc. 2.2 The Plaintiff's Dream11 platform was started as a one-stop provider of a number of online fantasy sports events/ leagues, where a user would draft virtual teams based on real players of a professional sport. These virtual drafted teams get points based on the performance of the players in actual games and depending on the points scored by a user's virtual team, they would then be rewarded monetarily.
2.3 It is stated that as on the date of filing of the present suit, the Plaintiff's mobile and online platform had over nine (9) crore users playing fantasy cricket football, hockey, kabaddi, baseball, handball and basketball. The said number has consistently increased since then. 2.4 The Plaintiff is the registered proprietor of the DREAM11 trademarks, with the earliest registration dating back to the year 2009. Additionally, the Plaintiff is also the registrant of the domain 'dream11.com', which domain has been registered since 17.03.2008. Details of the Plaintiffs' DREAM11 trademarks registrations are mentioned at paragraph 9 of the plaint.
2.5 The Plaintiff instituted the present suit against rouge websites that were predominantly using the Plaintiff's registered DREAM11 trademarks as part of their domain names and that appeared to have cropped up close on the heels of the Indian Premier League 2020 (IPL 2020). Submissions on behalf of the Plaintiff The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above.
3.
Learned counsel for the Plaintiff states that some of the rouge websites were copying the entire get-up and layout of the Plaintiff's website (www.dream11.com) in order to deceive and lure customers where they were promoting fake and fraudulent lottery/lucky draw schemes and asking unwary customers to deposit money to claim prizes like cars, scooters, TVs and tablets, or being used for unlawful activities such as betting and gambling.
3.1 He states that among the several domains that were impleaded in the suit, there were some that were purchased and thereafter, parked by the Defendants for the purposes of domain squatting and to sell these domains to third parties at a premium.
3.2 He states that aggrieved by the acts of the Defendants, the Plaintiff filed the present suit and impleaded (i) the domains (being rogue entities), (ii) the Domain Name Registrars (that provided the infringing domains for registration), and (iii) Union of India (Department of Telecommunications, Ministry of Electronics and Infoirmation Technology ('Meity'), and National Internet Exchange of India).
3.3 He states that since the Plaintiff was witnessing a proliferation of the rogue domains/websites, the Plaintiff also impleaded Defendant No. 65 as 'John Doe', for the purposes of seeking a dynamic injunction. He states that the present suit was originally filed against Defendant Nos. 1 to 65. 3.4 He states that the predecessor Bench of this Court passed an ex-parte ad-interim injunction against Defendant Nos. 1 to 65 vide order dated 14.10.2020 restraining the Defendants from infringing Plaintiff's DREAM11 trademarks.
3.5 He states that during the pendency of the suit proceedings, the The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above.
Plaintiff discovered additional domains/websites that were using the Plaintiff's DREAM11 trademarks and were engaged in similar infringing activities; and accordingly, Plaintiff filed the following applications - a. I.A. No. 695 of 2021: Sought impleadment of Defendant Nos. 66 to
149. The said application was allowed by the Court on 11.02.2021 and the directions of interim injunction issued in the Order dated 14.10.2020 were extended to the said Defendants. b. I.A. No. 11718 of 2021: Sought impleadment of Defendant Nos. 150 to 230. The said application was allowed by the Court on 20.09.2021 and the directions of interim injunction issued in the Order dated 14.10.2020 were extended to the said Defendants as well. 3.6 He submits that for the sake of completeness, the Plaintiff has impleaded (i) the infringing domains (which direct to rogue websites) as Defendant Nos. 1 to 51 and 66 to 216, (ii) the associated Domain Name Registrars (for the purposes of suspension and locking of the above domains) as Defendant Nos. 52 to 61 and 217 to 230, and (iii) the Union of India as Defendant Nos. 62 to 64.
3.7 He states that for Defendant Nos. 1 to 3, 5 to 51, 53, 55, 56, 58 to 230, their failure to file written statements or to appear before this Court entitles the Plaintiff to seek a judgment not only under Order XIIIA of the CPC (as amended by the Commercial Courts Act, 2015), but also under Order VIII Rule 10, CPC.
3.8 He has placed reliance on the judgments of the coordinate Benches of this Court in Satya Infrastructure Ltd. & Ors. vs. Satya Infra & Estates The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above.
Pvt. Ltd.1 and Su-Kam Power Systems Ltd. v. Kunwer Sachdev and Anr.2 and states that time and again it has been held by this Court that in cases such as these, where the Defendants neither file their written statement, nor appear on any of the dates, the Court has the power to pass a judgment under Order VIII Rule 10, CPC as also under Order XIIIA of the CPC, 1908.
4.
Learned counsel for the Plaintiff has handed over written submissions dated 28.08.2025, along with list of domains/websites forming part of the present suit annexed as Annexure-B to the written submissions; and prays that the suit may be decreed qua all the websites/Defendants as mentioned in Annexure-B in terms of the prayer (a), (b) and (e) of paragraph 39 of the amended plaint.
Proceedings in the Suit 5.
In compliance with the orders dated 14.10.2020, 11.02.2021 and 20.09.2021, the Plaintiff served the Defendants in the following manner-: a. Defendant Nos. 1 to 65 were served with the summons via email on 01.12.2020 and the service affidavit to that effect was filed on 02.02.20213.
b. Defendant Nos. 66 to 149 were served with summons via email on 26.02.2021 and the service affidavit to that effect was filed on 15.03.20214.
c. Defendant Nos. 150 to 199, 208 to 214, 217 to 219 and 224 to 228 were served with the summons via email on 14.10.2021 and the 1 2013 (54) PTC 419 (Del) [Paras 4 and 5] 2 2019 SCC OnLine Del 10764 [Paras 90 to 92] 3 Proof of service annexed as Document - 2 filed along-with I.A. No. 12256 of 2025. 4 Proof of service annexed as Document - 3 filed along-with I.A. No. 12256 of 2025. The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above.
service affidavit to that effect was filed on 19.10.20215. d. Defendant Nos. 200 to 207, 215, 216, 220 to 223, 229 and 230 were served with the summons on 16.09.2023 and the service affidavit to that effect was filed on 16.09.20236.
6.
Service of summons upon Defendant Nos. 1 to 199 (except Defendant No. 65, who is 'John Doe' impleaded for the purposes of seeking a dynamic injunction), 208 to 214, 217 to 219 and 224 to 228 have been recorded in the Order dated 03.08.2022; and service of summons upon Defendant Nos. 200 to 207, 215, 216, 220 to 223, 229 and 230 have been recorded in the Order dated 25.09.2023. He states that therefore, as on date, all the Defendants stand served.
7.
As on date, the written statements have only been filed by Defendant Nos. 4, 52, 54 and 57 (all of whom are Domain Name Registrars). None of the remaining Defendants have filed their written statement and their statutory time (of 120 days) to file the same has also lapsed. 8.
Additionally, the Defendant Nos.
(dream11.life), (dream11.org), 33 (dream11.net), 35 (dream11.co) and 38 (dream11.co.in) have been removed from the array of parties vide Order dated 11.02.2021, as the said domains were acquired/purchased by the Plaintiff during the pendency of the suit proceedings.
9.
A perusal of Defendant No. 4's written statement, reflects that the said Defendant has not challenged the Plaintiff's statutory and proprietary right in its DREAM11 trademarks, and has, on the contrary, argued that (i) Defendant No. 52 (i.e., GoDaddy.com, LLC) provided the domain to the 5 Proof of service annexed as Document - 4 filed along-with I.A. No. 12256 of 2025. 6 Proof of service annexed as Document - 5 filed along-with I.A. No. 12256 of 2025 The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above.
said Defendant as a suggestion, for registration, and (ii) that after the Order dated 14.10.2020 was communicated to them on 16.10.2020, they have since given-up all use of the domain 'dream11indian.com'. He states that in view of the above stance and the fact that Defendant No. 4 has not appeared before this Court, it is apparent that the said Defendant does not have any objection to suffering a decree in the suit.
10.
Defendant Nos. 52, 54 and 57 are Domain Name Registrants and they have not opposed the reliefs prayed for in the plaint. Findings and Analysis 11.
The Court has heard the learned counsel for the Plaintiffs and perused the record of the case.
12.
The predecessor bench of this Court vide Order dated 14.10.2020 had granted an ex-parte ad-interim injunction in favour of the Plaintiffs, in terms of prayer (a), (b) and (c) of paragraph 22 of I.A. 9344/2020. The websites of the Defendants which have been blocked in pursuance of the said injunction Order are enlisted at Annexure B of the written submissions. 13.
The plaint has been duly verified and is also supported by the affidavit of the Plaintiffs. In view of the fact that no written statement has been filed by the Defendant Nos. 1 to 3, 5 to 51, 53, 55, 56, 58 to 230, all the averments made in the plaint have to be taken to be admitted. As recorded above Defendant Nos. 4, 52, 54 and 57 are not opposing the reliefs prayed for in the plaint. None of the Defendants have approached the Court for variation or vacation of the injunction Order dated 14.10.2020. 14.
At this stage, it would be apposite to refer to Order VIII Rule 10 of CPC. The said rule reads as under: - "10. Procedure when party fails to present written statement The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above.
called for by Court.- Where any party from whom a written statement is required under rule 1 or rule 9 fails to present the same within the time permitted or fixed by the Court, as the case may be, the Court shall pronounce judgment against him, or make such order in relation to the suit as it thinks fit and on the pronouncement of such judgment a decree shall be drawn up."
15.
It would be relevant to refer to the dicta of Satya Infrastructure Ltd. & Ors. v. Satya Infra & Estates Pvt. Ltd. (supra), wherein the Co-ordinate Bench of this Court held as under: - "4. The next question which arises is whether this Court should consider the application for interim relief and direct the plaintiffs to lead ex parte evidence. The counsel for the plaintiff's states that the plaintiffs are willing to give up the reliefs of delivery, of rendition of accounts and of recovery of damages, if the suit for the relief of injunction alone were to be heard today.
5. I am of the opinion that no purpose will be served in such cases by directing the plaintiffs to lead ex parte evidence in the form of affidavit by way of examination-in chief and which invariably is a repetition of the contents of the plaint. The plaint otherwise, as per the amended CPC, besides being verified, is also supported by affidavits of the plaintiffs. I fail to fathom any reason for according any additional sanctity to the affidavit by way of examination-inchief than to the affidavit in support of the plaint or to any exhibit marks being put on the documents which have been filed by the plaintiffs and are already on record. I have therefore heard the counsel for the plaintiffs on merits qua the relief of injunction." (Emphasis Supplied) 16.
Based on the averments made in the plaint, it is clear that the defendants are actively and knowingly, using the Plaintiffs' DREAM11 trademarks on their Rogue Websites with the common object of exploiting Plaintiffs' exclusive proprietary rights on its DREAM11 trademarks. 17.
The Defendants' activities have caused irreparable harm to the The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above.
Plaintiffs, as these Rogue Websites not only violate and infringe the exclusive rights of the Plaintiffs in its DREAM11 trademarks, but also erode and dilute the value of the exclusive rights by taking away significant revenues from the Plaintiffs.
18.
This Court is of the view that given the no contest by the Defendants and the fact that the Plaintiffs have affIrmed the plaint on affidavit, this suit does not merit trial, and the suit is capable of being decreed in terms of Order VIII Rule 10 of CPC. And thus, the Plaintiffs are entitled to relief of permanent injunction as claimed in the plaint. 19.
Accordingly, a decree of permanent injunction is passed in favour of the Plaintiffs and against all the Defendants, as mentioned in Schedule7 to this Order, in terms of the prayer clause (a), (b) and (e) of paragraph 39 of the plaint. The interim injunction order dated 14.10.2020 shall merge into the decree.
20.
The remaining prayer clauses of the plaintiff are dismissed as not pressed.
21.
Let the decree sheet be drawn up.
22.
With the aforesaid directions, this suit along with pending applications (if any) stands disposed of.
23.
No order as to costs.
24.
All future dates stand cancelled.
MANMEET PRITAM SINGH ARORA, J AUGUST 29, 2025/gm/AM 7 Annexure B to the written submissions has been adopted as the Schedule. The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above.
SCHEDULE LIST OF DOMAINS/WEBSITES FORMING PART OF THE PRESENT SUIT Defendant No.
Domain/Website www.dream11prime.com www.dream11predication.com www.dream11tricks.com www.dream11indian.com www.dream11tech.in www.dream11fantasyleague.in www.dream11cricket.com www.dream11guru.in www.dream11.site www.dream11.biz www.dream11predictorpro.com www.dream11prediction.co www.dream11winner.com www.dream11teams.com www.dream11teamfortoday.com www.dream11luckydraw.com www.dream11lab.com www.dream11sage.com www.godream11.com www.dream11teampredictionlive.com www.dream11chasers.com www.dream11prophet.com www.dream11legend.com www.dream11.website www.dream11.online www.dream11.world www.dream11.today www.dream11.tech www.dream11.me www.dream11.club www.dream11.io www.dream11.net.in The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above.
Defendant No.
Domain/Website www.dream11.ind.in www.dream11tech.com www.dream11predictions.com www.dream11pro.com www.dream11crickguru.com www.dream11teamtoday.com www.dream11.fun www.thedream11mart.com www.dream11.space www.dream11wins.com www.dream11.app www.dream11-prediction.club www.dream11.cc www.dream11play.cricket www.dream11online.com www.dream11predication.com www.primedream11.com www.dream11baadshah.com www.dream11.company www.mpldream11.com www.dream11prime.in www.prodream11.com www.dream11astrology.com ww1.dream11cricketbettingtips.com www.dream11crickets.com www.dream11x.com www.paydream11.com www.playwindream11.com www.dream11wizard.com www.dream11proprediction.com www.teamsdream11.com www.dream11-team.com www.mydream11predictions.com www.predictdream11team.com www.sportdream11.com www.dream11clone.com The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above.
Defendant No.
Domain/Website www.dream11kings.com www.dream11crictips.com www.dream11circle.com www.dream11plus.com www.dream11fix.com www.dream11teampro.com www.superdream11.com www.empiredream11.com www.bestdream11tips.com www.dream11matches.com www.dream11criketprediction.com www.getdream11team.com www.dream11-predictions.com www.dream11bestpredictions.com www.dream11-news.com www.dream11adda.com www.1team1dream11.com www.dream11teamtips.com www.dream11nsfc.com www.dream11pirates.com www.dream11xpert.com www.dream11onlinecontest.com www.ludodream11.com www.dream11smart.com www.dream11hub.com www.dream11-ipl.com www.dream11exch.com www.dream11exch9.com www.dream11ipl2020.com www.mydream11online.com www.dream11fantastic.com www.dream11ipl2021.com www.dream11privatecontests.com www.dream11ipltwenty20.com www.dream11eleven.com www.dream11cricketteams.com The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above.
Defendant No.
Domain/Website www.dream11dream11.com www.dream11iplofficial.com www.dream11official.com www.mydream11.fun www.dream11teams.in www.dream11tricks.in www.dream11guruji.in www.dream11prime.co.in www.ipldream11.in www.dream11glteams.in www.dream11prediction.co.in www.dream11-prediction.in www.dream11prediction.com www.dream11.best www.dream11teamprediction.com www.dream11worldcup.com www.khelodream11.com www.dream11livescores.com www.dream11iplt20.com www.dream11.cricket www.dream11prediction.cricket www.dream11.expert www.dream11cricket.cricket www.dream11.download www.dream11cricket.download www.mydream11prediction.com www.dream11.co.uk www.dream11fantasy.today www.dream11team.com www.bawlonedream11.com www.dream110017.com www.dream1124.info www.mydream11team.com www.bigdream11.com www.dream11winningteams.com www.dream11-pro.com The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above.
Defendant No.
Domain/Website www.perfectdream11.com www.dream11pandit.com www.teamdream11.com www.dream11play.com www.dream11app.com www.todaydream11team.com www.predictdream11.com www.dream11-prediction.com www.dream11champions.com www.todaydream11.com www.dream11live.com www.edream11.com www.dream11master.com www.dream11fantasy.com www.dream11ipl.xyz www.dream11teampredictions.com www.ipldream11.com www.dream11prediction.com www.cricdream11.com www.yourdream11.com www.sgteam11.com www.icedream11.com www.mydream11.xyz www.dream11ipl20.xyz www.dream11teamone.xyz www.dream11iplschedule.xyz www.dream11prime.xyz www.dream11s.xyz www.indiadream11.com www.visiondream11.com www.bestdream11team.com www.dream11hindi.com www.dream11experts.com www.dream11tips.com www.dream11india.com www.dream11europeancricketseries.com The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above.
Defendant No.
Domain/Website www.dream11ecs.com www.dream11eurocup.cricket www.dream11ecs.cricket www.dream11europeancricketseries.cricket www.dream112.com www.dream111.com www.youngdream1128.com www.dream1111.com www.yoursexydream11.com www.iidream11.com www.dream11crickettips.com www.idream11.com www.dream11iplprediction.com www.dream11primepremium.com www.dream119.com www.dream11team11.com www.dream11teamipl2020.xyz www.dream11freeteam.com www.dream11hindi.expert www.mydream11.com www.dream114.com The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above.