Satyajit Ray was the first copyright owner of Bengali film Nayak, and the right to novelise its screenplay remains vested in him and his family, the Delhi high court held on May 23, rejecting a plea by the producers of the 1966 film for an injunction against the novelisation of the film’s screenplay.
A single-judge bench of Justice C. Harishankar was ruling on the plea by the producers, R.D. Bansal (karta of RDB & Co.). According to the high court, Ray had the right to novelise the screenplay, and that right could be assigned by him and, after his demise, by “his son and others on whom the right devolved”. “The assignment of the right to novelise the screenplay by Sandip Ray (Satyajit Ray’s son) and the Society for Preservation of Satyajit Ray Archives (SPSRA) in favour of the defendant is, therefore wholly in order and in accordance with the provisions of the (Copyright) Act,” the judge said. He rejected the request for injunction against HarperCollins.