Delhi High Court stays the release of Hindi film “Badmashiyaan”

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday passed an ad-interim order in a suit filed by Multi Screen Media Pvt. Ltd (MSM), the Indian subsidiary of Sony Entertainment Television, staying the release of Bollywood film “Badmashiyaan”.  Multi Screen Media Pvt. Ltd (MSM), in its suit, had alleged copyright infringement by the movie’s producers. 

 

"Badmashiyaan' actors at its teaser launch

Justice Indermeet Kaur also restrained the film’s producers from airing trailers of the movie, which according to MSM, is a copy of a Korean film “Couples” as well as its own production “Mango”, that is yet to be released. The court, in its ad-interim ex-parte order, also issued notice to VRG Motion Pictures Pvt. Ltd which has produced “Badmashiyaan”, as well as Sidus FNH Corporation, the producer and copyright owner of the Korean film, and sought their replies by 22 May.

MSM has also sought damages of Rs.25 lakh from VRG for infringing its copyright. MSM has contended that the rights to make a Hindi remake of “Couples” was obtained by co-producer Kaleidoscope Entertainment Pvt. Ltd (KEPL) from Sidus FNH in March 2013.

Thereafter, MSM and KEPL “entered into a film production agreement, before commencement of production of the said film, and hence, plaintiff 1 (MSM) is the first owner of copyright in and to the said film,” the petition claimed. MSM and KEPL’s film, Mango, was produced in 2013-14 and its trailers were exhibited in February-March 2014, it said. 

In January 2015, MSM and KEPL had come across trailers of Badmashiyaan on ‘Youtube’ and found that the movie was an adaptation of the Korean movie as well as Mango, the plaintiff alleged. 

“Defendant 1 (VRG), the producer of Badmashiyaan copied the plot, treatment and screenplay of Couples as well as Mango. Accordingly, defendant 1 has infringed the exclusive contractual right of the plaintiffs (MSM and KEPL) to make the adaptation of Couples into Hindi language,” it has alleged. 

“Badmashiyaan”, starring Suzanna Mukherjee, Sharib Hashmi, Siddhant Gupta, Gunjan Malhotra and Karan Mehra, was slated for release on 27 February.

Compassionate appointments permitted by statute cannot be denied citing agreements entered into with trade unions : High Court of Kerala

The High Court of Kerala has recently held that compassionate appointments permitted by statute cannot be denied citing agreements entered into with labour unions.

The ruling came while the Court was considering a petition filed by R Rita Bella of Kozhipara in Palakkad questioning denial of compassionate appointment by KSEB citing a provision in long term settlement (LTS) with few registered trade unions.

Rita's husband 31-year-old Felix Leo, who was working as a lineman, had suffered serious injuries in a motor accident on January 21, 2007 and he became permanently incapacitated. He was certified to be permanently disabled at 100 per cent by KG Hospital at Coimbatore.

Though Rita sought appointment under compassionate scheme, KSEB turned down the claim.  Assailing the stand of the KSEB, Rita approached the High Court. Defending its stand in Court, the KSEB attempted to justify its decision of declining to grant compassionate appointment to Rita by relying on a long term settlement entered with the trade unions in March 2007.

In one of the clauses of the LTS, it was stated that compassionate appointment would be granted only in if the employee became invalid due to accidents occurred during the course and out of employment. The accident had occurred on a Sunday and Felix was not on duty that day.

Disagreeing with KSEB's stand, Justice V. Chitambaresh held, "The Regulation as regards appointment of dependents of employees of KSEB who retire on invalid pension are statutory and the powers can be traced to the Electricity (Supply) Act, 1948. Valuable rights have been conferred thereunder prescribing the eligibility for appointment provided at least one year of service was left for the invalid employee. These rights can be abridged or otherwise altered only by an amendment of the statutory regulations, which has not hitherto been done. A long term settlement cannot override the statutory regulations in deciding the eligibility for appointment of dependents of employees who retire on invalid pension."