Arguments in Toilet: Ek Prem Katha copyright case continue

Jaipur Aug 1 (IANS) A local court here on Tuesday continued to hear arguments for the second day in succession in a case of violation of the Copyright Act by makers of Akshay Kumar-starrer "Toilet: Ek Prem Katha".

"The arguments continued for the whole day today and tomorrow again it will continue in Jaipur Metropolitan Court " G.D. Bansal advocate for Jaipur-based filmmaker Pratik Sharma said here on Tuesday.

A copyright infringement case was brought up by Sharma against Plan C Studios an alliance between Reliance Entertainment and Friday Filmworks helmed by Neeraj Pandey and Shital Bhatia and Viacom18 on July 7 in a Jaipur Metropolitan Court.

Sharma alleged that the makers have lifted the punchline and the subject from his film "Gutrun Gutar Gun".

S.S. Hora counsel of Viacom 18 told IANS: "We argued on four major points. First there can t be copyright of an idea or a concept. Secondly what he (Sharma) claims is already in public domain a real life fact in India it is not his creation.

"Third he being in the film industry he knew that the film would come out on this concept July 2 2015 and he sat over all this while and fourth -- various stake holders in the film are not before the court he knows all of them but that he has not made them party is a defect. So no relief should be given to the plaintiff."

The Jaipur Metropolitan Court on July 26 asked the makers of "Toilet: Ek Prem Katha" to file a reply or enter into arguments in the case of copyright violation on July 31.

The court had earlier issued a notice returnable on July 22 but as a strike by the clerical staff was going on the court gave the respondents July 26 as a new date for filing their reply.

"Toilet: Ek Prem Katha" directed by Shree Narayan Singh deals with the need of sanitisation in India and is based on Prime Minister Narendra Modi s Swachh Bharat campaign. It features Bhumi Pednekar with Akshay.

--IANS
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