Bombay High Court dismissed the plea of Lootere’s 1993 film producer seeking to stop Hotstar’s web series ‘Lootere’. The court ruled that registering a film title with an association does not give copyright protection.
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MAHARASHTRA: The Bombay High Court on Monday made it clear that just registering a film title with a film producers’ association does not give copyright protection.
The Court dismissed an interim injunction plea filed by the producer of the 1993 Hindi movie Lootere, who had asked the Court to stop the release and streaming of a new web series with the same name on Disney+ Hotstar (now JioHotstar).
The case was filed by Sunil Darshan Saberwal, producer of the 1993 film Lootere. He argued that in September 2010 he had registered the title ‘LOOTERE’ with the Western India Film Producers Association (WIFPA), and therefore others could not use this title.
He claimed that this registration gave him exclusive rights against Star India and others who were making the web series under the same name.
However, Justice Sandeep Marne of the Bombay High Court rejected the plea and said that such registration with an association does not create any statutory rights.
The Court clearly observed:
“Mere registration of title with Defendant No.4-Association or by any other Association does not create any statutory right in favour of the Plaintiff to restrain Defendant Nos.1 and 2 from using the title ‘LOOTERE’ for making of their web series … Since title of a book or a film does not constitute a ‘work’ within the meaning of Section 2(y) of the Copyright Act, no copyright can subsist in a mere title.”
Saberwal, who runs his production house under the name Shree Krishna International, told the Court that he had made the Hindi film Lootere in 1993. He also said he had valid copyright registration for the film and had secured title registrations with WIFPA for different formats like feature films, TV serials, web series, and web films.
In September 2022, Saberwal found out that a web series titled Lootere, produced by JioStar India Private Limited (earlier Star India Pvt. Ltd.), was being promoted for release on Disney+ Hotstar. Even though he knew about the series in 2022, he waited and finally filed the case in March 2024, just before the series was scheduled to release.
The plaintiff argued that his title registration and copyright gave him exclusive rights to the name Lootere, which the defendants had violated. On the other hand, Star India argued that nobody can claim copyright in just a title. It also added that association-based registrations had no legal validity, especially since Star India was not even a member of that association.
The Court accepted Star India’s arguments and dismissed the plea. It stressed that film titles cannot get copyright protection.
The judge said:
“The position is thus fairly well settled that there cannot be a copyright in mere title of a film. Therefore, Plaintiff cannot claim any rights in mere title of the film ‘LOOTERE’. Prima facie therefore no injunction can be granted in Plaintiff ’s favour on the basis of his copyright infringement claim.”
The Court also explained that internal registrations within associations are only private agreements and do not have the force of law. These registrations are valid only among members of the association, not against outsiders.
Another important factor in the judgment was the delay in filing the case. The judge noted that the plaintiff waited too long after learning about the web series. Since the series had already been released and was streaming online, the Court said that the request for temporary injunction had become meaningless.
- Advocate Ashok M. Saraogi along with Advocate Siddharth Singh represented Saberwal.
- Senior Advocate Ashish Kamat, along with advocates Thomas George, Tanvi Sinha, Navankur Pathak, Neeti Nihal, and Bhargavi Baradhwaj, instructed by Saikrishna & Associates, appeared for Star India Pvt. Ltd.
CASE TITLE:
Sunil S/o Darshan Saberwal v Star India Pvt. Ltd.
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