Bollywood enmeshed in remake disputes over copyright issues

With more filmmakers sparring over rights to scripts whose remakes are in the works, Bollywood’s problems with copyright laws have resurfaced as the industry fails to draw watertight agreements, said legal experts.

While 2D Entertainment owned by Tamil star Suriya and Sikhya Entertainment are fighting over Soorarai Pottru that they co-produced in 2020, filmmaker Shankar has received a notice from the producer of his 2005 movie Anniyan objecting to its Hindi remake.

Legal experts point out that while rights to a film mostly rest with the producer, disputes arise when these aren’t explicitly worded or leave room for loopholes and individual interpretations, as in the case of remakes. Further, unlike OTT (over-the-top) streaming platforms, many film producers do not invest in watertight agreements and seek legal advice only when trouble starts brewing.

Disputes can also arise because several people do not realise that copyright protection is available not in the basic idea but in the expression of the same, so subjects with seemingly similar treatment are often objected to.

“It is unfortunate that most production houses, especially those involved with the big screen, tend to approach legal firms only once trouble starts brewing, instead of creating watertight agreements in the first place. This is not the case with OTT platforms that have robust internal legal teams and bring with themselves the vast experience of intellectual property disputes in other jurisdictions,” Pritha Jha, partner at legal firm Pioneer Legal said adding that ensuring appropriate legal help is taken at the time exploitation of copyright is being contemplated, will tremendously reduce scope for disputes.

Nishit Dhruva, managing partner at MDP & Partners, Advocates & Solicitors pointed out that Section 17 of the Copyright Act 1957 statutorily recognizes the author of the work to the first owner of the copyright. However, if the work is created in the course of employment, the employer is the owner of the copyright, which in the case of a cinematograph film, would be the producer. 

The complexity arises when two individual authors write two different stories independently with broadly a similar overall concept or plot. The similarity of the concept is often the cause of disputes in the entertainment industry, said Tanu Banerjee, partner, media and technology at Khaitan & Co.

Disputes with respect to stories and scripts are fairly common and typically arise when rights are not properly identified due to unclear language in the agreement and/or multiple rights are granted by the rights owner, according to Siddharth Mahajan, partner at Athena Legal.

“Disputes may also arise when competitors or colleagues in the film industry, by seeing the trailer of the film or series assume that the subject of the film is similar to an earlier film or a story written by them and to which they have rights. However, they do not take into consideration that they cannot have a copyright on the idea and copyright subsists only in the expression of an idea. Many such cases are filed close to the date of the release of the film,” Mahajan said.

For example, in a case that actor-producer Arbaaz Khan had filed against Hyderabad-based film production company Northstar Entertainment Pvt Ltd, the Bombay High Court granted copyright to Chulbul Pandey, the character that actor Salman Khan had played in the movie Dabangg with the opinion that the same is unique in style and that makes it easily recognisable.

“We regularly advice studios and producers before entering into arrangements with actors, singers, screenplay writers to protect themselves from frivolous claims in the times to come,” Dhruva said. 

Primary advice to studios is to run a check if the work of the author is similar to any third party’s work and take necessary consent, if so and to ensure that a binding and enforceable agreement clearly listing the rights and obligations of each party is entered into between the studios, producers and the author or artist to avoid any disputes.