The Visage of Intellectual Property Rights in India is spreading to all arenas and aspects of work. The Music entertainment industry has witnessed legal battles every now and then but lately the movie and production houses are gaining count. Two major film corporations this time had a brawl over the intellectual property rights of the under-production ‘Shoebite’, starring Amitabh Bachchan. The movie, a UTV production, was injuncted against by Percept Picture Company, alleging that the idea of the movie was sold to them as ‘Johnny Walker’. The script of the movie was registered.

The Percept Picture Company on realizing that the movie was identical to ‘Johnny Walker’ tried to approach one of the producers of UTV. Being unsuccessful in their attempt, they proceeded to gather evidence, and moved to Court, gaining an injunction order in their favour. The High Court of Delhi granting an injunction, restrained UTV from infringing on Percept’s copyright in the script and dialogue of the film, Johnny Walker, in any manner, including by making the film, Shoebite, based on the script. The injunction was granted ex-parte and a notice for hearing to be held on 3rd September 2008 has been issued to UTV. However, UTV denied receipt of any injunction order.

The Indian Entertainment industry, becoming more IP conscious than ever, is increasingly moving to Court to vouch their rights. Being one of the world’s largest entertainment industries, and selling close to 3.6 million tickets a year (as compared to 2.6 million Hollywood tickets), it is essential that production houses and the industry in general be on a vigil to protect their intellectual property assets.