"Sometimes a good idea does not come to Idea," Abhishek Manu Singhvi quipped, arguing in the Delhi High Court last Tuesday for Star India Pvt Ltd, as the company sought to claim rights over Cricket Scores, looking to overturn a judgement that brought Cricket scores into the public domain after 2 minutes. Over an hour and a half yesterday, Singhvi put forth a strong case for STAR, claiming that the delivery of Cricket scores over mobile, without giving STAR India a share, was dishonest. Repeatedly, Singhvi said that the copyright argument which is likely to be put forth by the opposing parties (and on the basis of which they won the case against STAR earlier), is a "straw man" argument, placed only to be shot down. "I am not asserting rights in the work, or the rights in performance. The information is incapable of copyright protection. I am assuming it will not apply," Singhvi claimed. So how did STAR approach the case? STAR argued that "Quasi Property Rights" are held by the entity that organizes an event: that BCCI holds the entire, absolute rights for the event. The BCCI sells different rights - TV, audio, radio, Internet, and mobile - each sought to be exploited independently. STAR won all rights for Rs 3851 crores; Its TV rights ensure that someone cannot set up a special telescope, and broadcast the match to a group of people who are, for example, experts in alcohol, and get a large sum of money as sponsorship…
