MUMBAI: Even as the legal dispute between Discovery Channel and ertswhile strategic partner Lex Sportel Vision (LSV) over rights to the DSport mark went in favour of the American media conglomerate in the Indian territory, in Sri Lanka the verdict has reportedly gone the opposite way.
Sri Lanka’s Commercial High Court recently issued an Enjoining Order against the Discovery Channel companies in India and Singapore (Defendants) preventing the use of DSport mark in the Emerald Isles, Lanka’s Daily FT reports.
The Enjoining Order, delivered by Commercial High Court Judge Sampath Wijeratne issued a “Notice of Interim Injunction and Summons by way of an Order dated 20 February 2020. Currently the matter is fixed for Order for 4 September 2020 in respect of the Interim Injunction Inquiry. Up to date the Enjoining Order remains valid and operative and the Defendants are barred from launching a DSport Channel or a channel bearing a similar name to DSport within Sri Lanka”.
For the record, it was in January that the Delhi High Court had delivered an interim injunction in favour of Discovery Communications LLC, Discovery Networks Asia Pacific and Discovery Communications India, restraining Lex Sportel Vision Pvt. Ltd., its founder promoter RC Venkateish and Dilip Sharan, CEO of Lex Sportel, from using DSport “in any manner whatsoever and specifically for marketing its own channel 1Sports” in the Indian territory.
Speaking of Lex, as a fallout of the Delhi Court’s interim injunction, in India its channel is beaming as 1Sports but in the other three South Asian markets where it is available – Sri Lanka, Nepal and Maldives – it remains DSport, SportzPower understands.
As for DSport, currently it is not available in India. Why? Discovery has re-badged DSport as Eurosport, which had pretty much been its intention from the outset when its differences with LSV over DSport first surfaced, all the while spiralling downwards to the point of no return.
Related Report
Discovery wins favourable interim HC ruling against Lex on DSport
