The Bombay high court vide its order dated 22nd May, 2020 refused to grant any ad interim reliefs to plaintiffs Sameer Wadekar and Mahesh Gosavi in their copyright infringement claim against Netflix and Red Chillies Entertainment, and the director and writer of Betaal web series. The plaintiffs claimed that the series infringed their screenplay of ‘Vetaal’ which was intended as a Marathi film and which they had registered with the Screenwriters’ Association in March 2018. They had acquired a copyright registration for the same in 2015. The plaintiffs claimed to have shared their work with many known producers out of which one Wilson Louis had few contacts in Netflix.
The court rejected the ad interim reliefs sought by the plaintiffs, on the following grounds:
(1) There is nothing to show the plaintiffs’ link with defendants except that Wilson Louis had told the plaintiffs that he had some contacts in Netflix.
(2) The promotional materials of the web series were out way back on 16th and 17th July, 2019 and that the plaintiffs’ ignorance of the same did not help their case.
(3) The word ‘Betaal’ originates from ‘Vetalam’ relevant in Hindu mythology.
As such, the plaintiffs did not get any relief. Betaal is written and directed by Patrick Graham and co-directed by Nikhil Mahajan. The web series, produced by Red Chillies Entertainment for Netflix, is streaming on Netflix from 24th May, 2020.
