After a detailed trial spanning over a decade, the Court on analysing the evidence and comparing the two screenplays, found that there were substantial similarities in the characters, narrative and even scene construction.
It rejected Ravi’s claim that the film was independently developed from a one-line story, and held that the similarities went beyond coincidence.
The Court further observed that copyright law protected the expression of an idea and not just the final cinematograph film and while the director or producer may own the copyright over the film, the author of the literary work retained independent copyright unless the work is validly assigned to another in writing.
“The defendants have violated the authorship and copyright of the plaintiff in his literary work. It is held that the plaintiff is the owner of the authorship right and copyright of the story, script and screenplay of the movie Karmayodha. He is entitled for a declaration as such,” the Court observed.
