SHUHAIB HAMEED Vs. JAMES ALBERT AND ORS.

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The defeated plaintiff in an action for infringement of copyright is the appellant in this appeal.

(2.) The plaintiff is the author of the Malayalam novel "Kalaalayavarshangal" published in the year 2004. The defendants are the script writer, director and producer respectively of the cinematograph film "Classmates" made and released in the year 2008. According to the plaintiff, the story of the cinematograph film "Classmates", hereinafter referred to as "the movie" for short, is a reproduction of the story of the novel "Kalaalayavarshangal", hereinafter referred to as "the novel" for short. It is alleged by the plaintiff that the background, idea, theme, characters and the manner of telling the story in the movie are exactly the same as in the novel. A decree of permanent prohibitory injunction restraining the defendants and persons claiming under them from exhibiting the movie or dubbing or remaking the movie in other languages, was the relief sought in the suit.

(3.) The defendants filed separate written statements, contending among others, that the similarities in the novel and movie are only in respect of the common features of campus life; that the story of the movie is distinct and different from the story of the novel and that there are no similarities in the fundamental or substantial aspects of the mode of expression adopted in the novel.