Indian copyright and entertainment law updates, International copyright and entertainment law updates, licensing and merchandising news and more weekly news updates, presented by the Copyright and Entertainment Attorneys and experts of BananaIP Counsels, India’s Premier New Age IP Firm
Copyright quote of the week
“Of all the creative work produced by humans anywhere, a tiny fraction has continuing commercial value. For that fraction, the copyright is a crucially important legal device” –Lawrence Lessig
Indian Copyrights and Entertainment Law Updates
Bangalore City Civil Court Vacates Injunction on Chetan Bhagat’s One Indian Girl
The Bangalore City Civil Court on Thursday vacated its earlier ex-parte injunction restraining the publication of Chetan Bhagat’s book One Indian Girl. The temporary injunction was earlier granted on a petition filed by the Bangalore-based writer Anvita Bajpai. Anvita Bajpai alleges that Bhagat’s book One Indian Girl is substantially similar to her book ‘Life Odds & Ends’.
Legal Row Over Chetan Bhagat’s ‘Half Girlfriend’ Settled
Economic Times reported that the dispute between the novelist Chetan Bhagat and the royal family of Dumraon has been settled after the writer offered an apology to the royal family. The dispute was based on the alleged depiction of the princely state of Dumraon in poor light in the novel Half Girlfriend. Chetan Bhagat has agreed to publish a disclaimer in further editions of his novel stating that the depiction of the state of Dumraon was imaginary and fictional in nature.
Chetan Bhagat said, “I clarify that the aforesaid depiction of the royal family of Dumraon was completely based on fiction, is imaginary, unintentional and has no factual basis. I apologize to anyone if hurt by the said fictional representation of the assumed royal family in the novel “
Chandra Vijay, a descendant of erstwhile princely state of Dumraon had filed the suit before the Delhi High Court seeking Rs One Crore as damages from Bhagat for making false and derogatory comments against his family. Vijay is the eldest son of Maharaja Bahadur Kamal Singh, the last ruler of Dumraon before its accession to the Indian Union in 1952.
International Copyright and Entertainment Law Updates
Google directed to de-index infringing contents worldwide by Canadian Supreme Court
A legal battle between two companies in Canada has resulted in a direction to Google from the Canadian Supreme Court to remove infringing websites from its global search engines. In 2011, Equustek Solutions, a Canadian technology company sued an entity called Datalink Technology Gateways. Equustek alleged that Datalink relabeled Equustek’s products and sold them as its own products. The Court restrained Datalink from selling the inventory. However, Datalink ignored the court orders and continued running its business online from an unknown location. Aggrieved by this, Equustek approached Google for de-indexing web pages associated with Datalink. However, Google denied this request and requested Equustek to provide a court order in this regard. Equustek, therefore, approached Canadian Supreme Court for an injunction and the Court issued an injunction against Google restraining them from displaying any web pages of Datalink in worldwide search results.
Dangal sets a new record
Amir Khan starrer Dangal which recently made news for a commendable performance in China has now become the first Indian film to earn INR 2000 crore worldwide. Further, Dangal has now become the fifth highest grossing non-Hindi film ever as well as the highest grossing sports film of 2017. However, as the distribution authorisation given to Dangal in China is set to expire, the film might not be able to surpass the collections of films such as Avatar and Jurassic World.
Entertainment Licensing Updates
Amazon signs licensing deal with Warner Bros
Amazon signed a long-term licensing deal with Warner Bros for making several films and televisions series available for its Amazon Prime streaming service. The roster would include films such as Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice, Suicide Squad, Sully, Annabelle and television series such as Lethal Weapon, Supernatural, Blind Spot, The Last Ship, 2 Broke Girls, The Vampire Diaries etc.
Netflix and Aamir Khan Productions maybe signing a licensing deal
Recently the California based on-demand streaming service Netflix obtained rights to stream the Amir Khan Starrer sports film Dangal from Aamir Khan Productions. It has been reported that the two companies are on the brink of a closing deal for other titles from the production house. However, both parties are awaiting the license rights granted to other platforms to expire.
BIP TIP OF THE WEEK
Before filing a copyright infringement suit, it is advisable to conduct a comprehensive comparison of both works to ensure that the infringing work is substantially similar to the original work. Filing suits merely because both works are based on the similar idea is not recommended.
