- Case number
- Comm Div) No.237 of 2022
- Court
- Madras High Court
- Date of judgment
- Judge
- Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy C. S
- Outcome
- Dismissed
Headnote
Rival claims to first ownership of copyright in a feature film resolved in favour of the plaintiff: his suit decreed and the cross suit dismissed. Because no issues had been framed in the later suit, the Court recast common issues for both. On the contest over who produced the film, it held that a certificate of the Central Board of Film Certification naming another applicant and producer is strong evidence that the film was completed and was viewed by the examining committee, but is no more than prima facie evidence of who the producer is, and must be weighed with the rest of the evidence, the more so where the rival claimant holds a certificate for the same film under a different title. On the evidence, the plaintiff's contemporaneous handwritten shooting ledger, his agreements with the lead cast, music composer, dance master, cinematographer and lyricist, and the original bound script were decisive. The counter claimant's agreements had been executed by a partnership firm that was not in existence on their dates, he asserted that the bound script was in his possession but never produced it, and he led no evidence for his allegation that the plaintiff had misappropriated the ledger. The plaintiff was therefore the person who took the initiative and responsibility for making the film, which made him the producer under section 2(uu) of the Copyright Act, 1957 and the first owner of copyright under section 17, so that the exclusive rights in section 14 accrued to him. The dates on which the rival suits were instituted were held not to be determinative.
Headnote by BRB Legal, written from the judgment: a summary for reference, not legal advice. Read the judgment itself before relying on it.