Days after suing Nykaa, Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (ZEEL) has reportedly dragged Reliance-Disney joint venture JioStar to the Delhi High Court, alleging unauthorised use of its copyrighted music after licence expiry.
Citing court documents, Reuters said Zee is seeking $3 Mn in damages for alleged exploitation of works from its music division on JioStar’s streaming platform JioHotstar and some of the company’s TV channels.
The latest tussle adds to the series of legal disputes involving the Reliance-Disney media entity created through the merger of Viacom18’s media business, JioCinema and Star India in 2024.
Zee and Reliance are already embroiled in a separate arbitration proceeding in London, where Reliance is seeking $1 Bn in damages from Zee over the collapse of a cricket broadcasting rights deal in 2024.
JioStar currently owns a vast content library spanning entertainment and sports programming across television and digital platforms. JioHotstar has around 500 Mn monthly users, making it India’s largest streaming service. Zee, meanwhile, claims ownership of a catalogue of over 19,450 songs across 17 languages.
In its 1,800-page lawsuit filed on April 14, Zee has alleged that JioStar used its music content at least 50 times after licensing agreements expired in 2024 and 2025 and were not renewed due to disagreements over commercial terms, the report said.
“The illegal exploitation thereof amounted to copyright infringement,” Zee said in the filing while seeking directions from the court to halt any ongoing infringement of its music works.
The matter was briefly heard earlier this week, during which the court reportedly asked JioStar to ensure there is no ongoing infringement of Zee’s works on its platforms and to comply within 15 days. The next hearing in the case has been scheduled for July 23.
The court documents cited in the report show that Zee and JioStar had exchanged multiple legal notices and held discussions over the disputed use of music content in recent months.
In a December communication, JioStar informed Zee that it had “taken extensive steps to remove any infringing content across its portfolio”, including legacy programming. However, the company argued that residual or passive archival hosting did not amount to copyright infringement, a position contested by Zee.
In another letter dated March 16, JioStar reportedly “categorically rejected” Zee’s demands for damages, while stating that it remained open to “an amicable and commercially sensible solution”.
The lawsuit also comes amid Zee’s broader crackdown on alleged unauthorised commercial use of its music catalogue. Earlier this week, it was reported that it sued beauty and fashion ecommerce platform Nykaa for allegedly using copyrighted songs in Instagram reels to promote products without permission.
Zee argued that while its licensing agreement with Meta permits individuals to use its songs for non-commercial purposes on Instagram, Nykaa allegedly used several of these tracks in promotional content aimed at its large follower base.
Zee has demanded around ₹2 Cr in damages and submitted 12 Instagram reels as evidence in the case. The matter will next be heard on May 26.
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