News

Court acts to block Indian mobile updates

The Chennai High Court upheld an application which prevents score updates from the Pakistan v India one-day series to customers' mobile phones

Cricinfo staff
07-Feb-2006
The Chennai High Court upheld an application from a company based in the city which means that major cellphone companies and websites will not be able to send score updates from the Pakistan v India one-day series to customers' mobile phones. The order also bans alerts and other information on the series being sent to any wireless or mobile device in any part of India.
The order came after a petition from Marksman Marketing Services (MMS) demanding that any organisation wanting to supply the services should have to obtain permission from them first.
MMS's legal advisors told the court Pakistani-based company Vectracom had been given "global SMS rights" for the tour in an agreement signed on December 29. It had, in turn, granted MMS exclusive rights for the whole of India.
MMS also told the court that a number of companies had provided such services in India during the Tests series and that it was seeking to prevent them doing so during the one-dayers.
Some mobile phone operators and websites indicated that they were considering a joint appeal. "We are yet to receive the High Court order and will take necessary steps after that," TV Ramachandran, director-general of the Cellular Operators Association of India, told reporters.
  • Cricinfo is one of the companies affected by the order.