As per reports, the Madras High Court on May 10, refused to restrain the release of the Rajinikanth-starrer Kaala alias Karikalan which is scheduled to release on June 7 as planned by the production house.
Justices V. Parthiban and P.D. Audikesavalu took the decision after senior counsel P.R. Raman, representing Wunderbar Films as well as the movie’s director P.A. Ranjith and lead actor Mr. Rajnikanth, contended that there was no need to amend the title when it was a settled law that there could not be any copyright over the title of a movie.
It was brought to the notice of the judges that Mr. Rajasekaran had initially filed a civil suit before the Chennai city civil court in June 2016. However, the suit was returned on the ground that matters related to copyright could be adjudicated only before the High Court. Hence, he subsequently filed a suit before the High Court and prayed for interim orders.
As posted here, the Madras High Court vide its order dated April 19, 2018 refused to grant any interim reliefs in a suit filed by K.S. Rajasekaran seeking to stall the release of the Rajnikanth starrer ‘Kaala’ over a title infringement dispute. The Court reiterated the principle that there is no copyright in a title. [Read order here]
K.S. Rajasekaran @ K.S.Nagaraja, Proprietor of M/s. GSR Vinmeen Creations, Chennai, had filed the suit against The South Indian Film Chamber of Commerce (SIFCC), M/s. Wonderbar Films Private Limited, P.A. Ranjit, Film Director and Shivaji Rao Gaikward @ Rajinikanth.
The suit was filed seeking interim injunction, restraining the Respondents / Defendants, from conducting any shooting or making any shooting in progress of the motion picture and from releasing the film in any mode, which is titled as ‘KARIKALAN’, by affixing the same after the main title ‘KAALA’ by way of either sub title or surname to the main title or in any other name for the same story, till the disposal of the suit. The Plaintiff further sought declaration that the Plaintiff is the owner of the title and story in KAALA @ KARIKALAN or KARIKALAN @ KAALA and its story, modifying life of earlier Chola Emperor, Karikalan to suit the modern life of a hero, reforming the evil activities of others in the Society.
Taking the order on appeal, the appellant’s counsel contended that he would be satisfied if Wunderbar Films was directed to delete the word Karikalan alone from its title since he had already registered it with SIFCC. He also told the court that he had no objection to the use of the word Kaala alone in the title.
The court however rejected his plea simply adjourned a case, in which objections were raised to the use of the word Karikalan in the title, to June 18.
Image source: here
