KAMLAPATI KHATRI Vs. SHARDA PRAKASHAN

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is an application under Order 39, Rules 1 and Civil Procedure Code . praying for an injunction restraining the defendants from publishing literary work "BHUTNATH."

(2.) The case of the plaintiff is that volumes 3 to 7 of this work were written by his father, Shri Durga Prasad Khatri, and volumes 1 and 2 were written by the plaintiff's grand-father, Shri Devki Nandan Khatri. The plaintiff contends that the defendants have no copyright in their favour and, therefore, are not entitled to publish volumes 3 to 7 of the said literary work.

(3.) The defendants have filed reply and have also moved application under Order 39, Rule 4 Civil Procedure Code . The case of the defendants is that the literary work BHUTNATH is written by Shri Devki Nandan Khatri and not Shri Durga Prasad Khatri. It is further the case of the defendants that Shri Devki Nandan Khatri admittedly died in the year-1913 and, according to the provisions of section 22 of the Copyright Act, 1957, all the seven volumes of the work BHUTNATH except the apilogue at the expiry of 50 years from the date of the death of Shri Devki Nandan Khatri became public domain.