“Judgment in Akshay Kumar’s Toilet Ek Prem Katha Copyright tussle likely on August 5th, Frank Ocean’s T-Shirt at the center of debate over “Tweet” Copyright, Grand Theft Auto makers sued over game character, Publishers, Authors win KinderGuides copyright Case and other entertainment law news” is presented by the Copyright and Entertainment law Attorneys and experts of BananaIP Counsels, India’s Premier New Age IP Firm
COPYRIGHT QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“Can you think of a better way than slavishly copying and removing attribution to disrespect an author?”
-Kalyan C. Kankanala, Renowned IP Attorney, Professor and Novelist
INDIAN COPYRIGHT AND ENTERTAINMENT LAW UPDATES
Judgment in Akshay Kumar’s Toilet Ek Prem Katha Copyright Tussle likely on August 5th
The Jaipur Metropolitan Court is expected to deliver its judgment on the temporary injunction petition filed against the release of the Akshay Kumar starrer Toilet- Ek Prem Katha on 5th August 2017. The copyright infringement case was filed by the Jaipur based filmmaker Pratik Sharma alleging that the plot of the upcoming film has been copied from his film Gutrun Gutargun. SS Hora, the counsel for the producers, Viacom18, in his statement said “We argued in court that an idea or a concept cannot fall under Copyright Act and there is no violation of the act. These types of things are already in public domain and no relief should be given to the complainant”.
INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT AND ENTERTAINMENT LAW NEWS
Frank Ocean’s T-Shirt at the center of debate over “Tweet” Copyright
Recently Frank Ocean, the American Singer and Song writer was all over the news for the anti-racial t-shirt worn by him during the Panorama Festival. During his performance, Ocean wore a white shirt with the phrase “Why be racist, sexist, homophobic or transphobic when you could just be quiet”. The T-shirt distributed by the online store Green Box Shop was an instant hit. However, a New York student, Brandon Male, claims that the Shop owner copied the quote from one of his older tweets. However, Male has not issued a cease and desist notice but has repeatedly tweeted his displeasure over alleged copyright infringement.
Grand Theft Auto makers sued over game character
Rockstar Games, the makers of the Grand Theft Auto games, has been sued by the US based Psychic Readers Network for copyright infringement over a character. The case involves a character in the game named Aunti Poulet. The Network alleges that the said character is based on its own character Miss Cleo. The Network describes Miss Cleo as a “Widely known television infomercial psychic”. The Network alleges that Rockstar not only copied the manners and characteristics of Miss Cleo, but also hired the same actor to do voice over. The suit is seeking unliquidated damages for copyright infringement and unjust enrichment.
Publishers and Authors win KinderGuides copyright Case
The publishers and estates of several authors have successfully sued Moppet Books and its founders, Frederik Colting and Melissa Medina, over their KinderGuides series of books. KinderGuides are a series of illustrated and condensed versions of popular works. The books included many popular fiction works by Trumark Capote, Jack Kerouac, Arthur C Clarke and Ernest Hemingway. The estates of these authors, along with their publishers, filed a lawsuit against Moppet Books for copyright infringement. Moppet Books defended the suit claiming fair use. Moppet Books claimed that its works were highly transformative and would never impact the market for the original works. However, the Court found that KinderGuides were not fair use and amount to copyright infringement.
ENTERTAINMENT LICENSING AND MERCHANDIZING UPDATES
INDIA’S FIRST B2B BRAND LICENSING SHOW
With participation of over a hundred globally recognized brands, India’s first business to business brand licensing show, India Licensing Expo (ILE) will commence on August 20th to 21st in Sahara Star, Mumbai. Being touted as the most influential B2B brand licensing show, the show will see participation from brands such as Fashion TV, Marie Claire, Universal Music, Mondo TV, JCB, Polaroid, NBA, Sesame Street etc. The event offers a master class being held from the 19th August, a day prior to the show, till the 20th of August, 2017 followed by the conference on the 21st of August, 2017 where a panel of industry experts such as Dan Frugtniet (VP-Licensing and Business Development, Nickelodeon, Viacom Consumer Products), Saugato Bhowmick (Head of Viacom18- Consumer Products), Yannick Colaco (MD-NBA), Siddharth Chury (Senior Director – NBA India), Manan Mehta (VP-Marketing and Merchandise, Yash Raj Films) to name a few, will be discussing licensing transition in retail in India.
BIP TIP OF THE WEEK
Business and Revenue Driven Entertainment Licensing Program
Every content owner must have a well planned, business and revenue driven licensing program to take its content far and wide, and financially benefit from the same. As the avenues of licensing increase, companies must devise and implement policies that are aimed at not only taking advantage of existing opportunities but are also dynamic enough to embrace new developments.
Author: BIP’s Copyright and Entertainment Law Attorneys
Senior Partner, the entertainment law attorneys at BIP are among the well-known lawyers in the field. They work with clients such as Yash Raj Films, Dharma Productions, Ananda Audio, Anushka Sharma, Sushant Singh, and Arka Media (Producer of Bahu Bali). BIP’s entertainment law team helps clients protect, manage and effectively license and merchandize their creative works such as films, music, brands and other content, to maximize financial returns.
The weekly copyright and entertainment law news initiative is a part of their pro bono work, and is aimed at spreading entertainment law awareness. You are free to share the news with appropriate attribution and backlink to the source.
If you have any questions, you may write to BIP’s Copyright and Entertainment Law Attorneys – [email protected].
