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The High Court of Bombay held that in the case of a literary work, copyright does not extend to a mere expression. It includes the theme, plots and storyline also. A plea was filed by an Urdu writer Shamoil Ahmad Khan, who alleged that Falguni Shah and two other people had infringed his copyright on a short story Singarda. They produced a web series under the same title. It was aired on the online platforms. Shamoil alleged that the producers have not merely copied the title, but the plot, narrative and characters also. The Producers apposed the petition. They claimed that only the central idea of Singardaan was taken. No other similarity was there between literary work and web series.
The respondents alleged that the story of a man taking a dressing table from a brothel to his home, and how its use leads to changes in the behaviour of the women at home, is not entitled to any copyright. The central idea in the web series, scenes, situations, climax, anti-climax, pathos, texture, presentation and treatment, was different from that of khan’s literary work. There was no copyright infringement. Justice Gupte didn’t agreed with it. He said that literary work was an expression, a gem of an idea, developed into a theme and then into a plot. The plot is further developed into a story with characters and settings. The combination of all these elements provides substance to the work. If one goes on stripping the final work of various elements, one may ultimately reach the bare idea, which retains no copyright.
The narration is the blood and life of the story. It is not limited to expressionsonly . Stealing them is the plagiarism of an idea. The expression cannot be separated from the themes, plots and storylines. The producers developed khan’s plot, theme and storyline in a different way. Still, copyright infringement is there. The Court restrained the producers from developing any further adaptation of Singardaan. It directed them to maintain the accounts of any revenues from the series. This has to be done from the inception to the Khan’s suit disposal.
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