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The Bombay High Court (see here for order) has restrained the release of any trailers or teasers of the remake Zanjeer/ Thoofan (the Telugu version of the film), until the final judgment on this matter is pronounced.
The remade ‘Zanjeer’ has run into hot water, not only is it involved in a copyright dispute (see here) but also involved in a controversy regarding non-payment of dues for the film’s remake rights. Sumeet and Puneeth Mehra (Amit Mehra’s brothers) had sold remake-rights for this film to Amit Mehra (the producer of the remake) who has allegedly been defaulting on payments. The contract between the two parties was terminated and on 26th July 2012, Sumeet Mehra obtained an interim order restraining the release of the movie. Arbitration between the parties resulted in the Arbitral Tribunal upholding the termination of contract by Sumeet and Puneeth Mehra. After arbitration, Amit Mehra filed an arbitration petition before the Bombay High Court which has been heard and concluded and the judgment is awaited.
The present interim injunction was granted as the Court felt it appropriate to restrain Amit Mehra from releasing trailers or teasers (in Hindi and Telugu) till this judgment is pronounced. Since trailers and teasers form part of the movie which is the subject matter of the petition, this injunction was considered necessary in order not to prejudice the rights of Sumeet and Puneeth Mehra.
A brief background of the case: Prakash Mehra Productions (“PMP”, proprietorship of Mr. Prakash Mehra) had produced the original film Zanjeer. Out of Prakash Mehra’s three sons i.e. Puneet Mehra, Sumeet Mehra and Amit Mehra, Amit Mehra through his company Adai Mehra Production Pvt. Ltd (AMPPL) acquired the remake rights of the original film in Hindi and Telugu languages from PMP. Payment of consideration under the remake rights agreement was to be in tranches. On coming across new articles and on receiving a legal notice from Salim-Javed, AMPPL requested PMP to clarify the claims of the writers and establish the title of PMP with respect to the copyright in the underlying works in the film. The writers always maintained that apart from authorising PMP to use the screenplay in the original film Zanjeer, they had not assigned, and had retained all other rights in the screenplay of the original film. Since the title of the film was not clarified by AMPPL, further tranches of payment were withheld by AMPPL due to which the Remake Rights Agreement was terminated by PMP. AMPPL disputed the termination due to which arbitration was invoked by the parties. The arbitrator passed an order restraining AMPPL from proceeding with the remake of the original film. An appeal was filed challenging the arbitrator’s order in the Bombay High Court wherein the Arbitrator’s order was stayed subject to deposit of the consideration under the remake rights agreement and AMPPL was further directed not to release the film until further orders from the court. The writers in the meanwhile filed a complaint with the Film Writers Association which thereby forwarded the complaint to FWICE. The decision passed in this matter would ultimately determine the fate of the innumerable remakes being made wherein in most of the cases remake rights are acquired merely from the producer of the film. It would also be interesting to see the societies which would be formed for different classes of literary works in cinematograph films due to the non-assignable nature of royalties attributed under the Copyright Amendment.
Just to add, after the FWICE complaint, a fresh suit has been filed by AMPPL against the Sumeet Mehra, Puneet Mehra and the Writers which is yet to be heard.
thank you anushree!