Copyright row: HC stops airing of serial

MUMBAI: The HC stopped a TV channel from airing a new serial, scheduled to be telecast from March 30. Justice S C Gupte held it was a prima facie case of breach of copyright and confidentiality by the channel.
The HC passed the strong interim order on a plea by TV production house Beyond Dreams Entertainment Pvt. Ltd, against Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd and its new channel &TV, launched early this month.
The production house moved court after it found promos for &TV's new serial 'Badii Devrani' resembled the concept and taglines it had created and was to produce for the channel. The serial, set in Kolkata, is the story of an unusual arranged marriage between an older woman and a younger boy. The story, as a concept note, was registered in June 2013 by Beyond Dreams with the Film Writers Association.
The production house was represented by solicitor Tushar Gujjar and senior counsel Janak Dwarkadas and Biren Saraf. The court asked them to see the 10-odd episodes the channel had made. After viewing, Gujjar and Saraf were convinced the storyline was the same. The judge too appeared to be satisfied that the channel had prima facie breached confidentiality and copyright held and originally pitched by the producers to the channel.
The channel, through its senior counsel Virag Tulzapur and solicitors Naik, Naik & Co, denied any similarity of content or breach of copyright and confidentiality. Zee Entertainment said it had in good faith asked Beyond Dreams to sell them its concept which it refused and hence Zee engaged another producer, Shashi Sumeet Productions Pvt Ltd, on a principle-to-principle basis to develop a completely different and independent concept, story, screenplay and dialogue for a TV serial.