The Bombay high court recently rejected a plea by filmmaker Tarun Wadhwa to restrain the release of Marathi film Zombivli, produced by Saregama India. The court said that it was not possible to grant injunctions on mere surmises or suppositions. Justice Gautam Patel explained that there was no copyright in an idea. He added that when two ideas were developed, there were bound to be similarities. Even if the two works were thematically the same, said Justice Patel, but treated and presented differently, there may be no question of copyright infringement. He concluded that incidental coincidences were not copyright infringement.
Tarun Wadhwa claimed that Saregama had illicitly used his material to make a film on zombies. He has preferred an appeal against Justice Patel’s order, which is scheduled to be taken up on November 18.