Khushi Agrawal, Symbiosis Law School, Noida
The R G Anand v. Deluxe case was a key verdict on copyright under the intellectual property rights issued by the Supreme Court of India. The lawsuit focuses on a copyright infringement in the field of cinematography. Infringement of copyright occurs when an original creative work is used or copied without the permission of the creator. This case concerns a copyright violation by Mohan Sehgal’s film New Delhi The appellant R G Anand filed a case of breach of copyrights of his drama 'Hum Hindustani.' He argued that the ‘New Delhi’ movie is based on the plot of his play.
The plaintiff was unable to demonstrate that the defendant copied his play in any manner. If the similarities between the copyrighted work and the copy are extensive and not coincidental, a reasonable inference of colorable imitation can be drawn. It was decided by the Court that an infringement action may only be filed if such an infringement can be detected, by an ordinary person. Since, in this case, no similarity was drawn out by an ordinary person, the film was not thought of as a duplicate of the original play. As a result, the appeal was dismissed since the Supreme Court found no copyright infringement.
The Court held that a normal person would not regard the play and the film as a replica of the play. The play and film differ substantially; hence the appellants’ claim of infringement of copyright is not sustained. The Court upheld the Delhi Supreme Court judgment. Consequently, the Court decided in favor of the defendant and found that there is no infringement of the Copyright act.
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