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Just when you thought India’s media giants had enough drama on screen, Zee Entertainment has taken its copyright battle with JioStar back to the Delhi High Court.
What happened: Zee has alleged that the Reliance-Disney media giant continued using Zee-owned songs even after the court told it to stop. Zee’s latest filing, dated September 21, calls it “wilful disobedience” of the earlier court order.
Quick context: the fight goes back to licensing agreements signed in 2017 and 2020, which allowed JioStar to use music owned by Zee in its television and streaming content. Those licences eventually expired, with the last one ending on October 31, 2025.
Timeline: in April, Zee sued JioStar, claiming its songs had been used at least 50 times without a valid licence. According to court documents reviewed by Reuters, the lawsuit was filed on April 14 and seeks around $3 million in damages.
On May 5, the Delhi High Court directed JioStar not to use, broadcast, stream or upload works over which Zee holds exclusive copyright. The court also sent the two companies to mediation to try to settle the dispute.
JioStar told the court at the time that it had already removed a substantial amount of Zee’s content. It also argued that because of the scale of its platform, it may not be able to identify every alleged violation without Zee pointing out the specific content. JioStar said it would remove such content once identified.
Zee says the problem didn't stop. The matter is scheduled to return before the court in December.
Plot twist: JioStar has its own copyright complaint
In May, JioStar initiated legal action against Zee, accusing it of broadcasting Bollywood movies even though JioStar says it owned the rights.
In its 120-page plea, JioStar alleged that Zee aired 12 different movies around 20 times, including films featuring Shah Rukh Khan and Aamir Khan. It accused Zee of repeatedly exploiting films without permission and described it in the filing as a “habitual infringer.”
Zee, however, argued that some of the broadcasts happened accidentally because of technical or operational errors and disputed JioStar’s allegations.
Zoom out: the copyright cases aren't even the biggest dispute between the two.
Separately, the companies are fighting in London arbitration, where Reliance is seeking around $1 billion from Zee over a terminated cricket broadcasting agreement. Zee has disputed the claim.
And Zee's lawyers have been busy elsewhere too.
Earlier this year, Zee sued Nykaa parent FSN E-Commerce Ventures, alleging it used Zee-owned songs in around a dozen promotional Instagram Reels without obtaining the required commercial licence. Zee sought roughly ₹2 crore in damages. Nykaa told the court that the disputed Reels had been removed.
