SANDEEP GANGATKAR Vs. SANDEEP KEWLANI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The applicant/plaintiff herein is seeking urgent ad-interim relief for restraining the defendants from releasing/broadcasting/ exploiting film titled "Sky Force", which is slated for release on 24/1/2025 (tomorrow).

(2.) The plaintiff claims that the defendants are infringing upon his copyright in a script titled "Fire Bird", which is stated to be his original literary work, as the story of the film copies the aforesaid script in which the plaintiff claims copyright. It is the case of the plaintiff that he became aware about the aforesaid attempt on the part of the defendants to infringe his copyright on 8/1/2025, when the trailer of the film "Sky Force" was released. It is further claimed that when the plaintiff approached the defendants, initially they did discuss the issues being raised by the plaintiff, but subsequently on 17/1/2025, they completely denied the claims of the plaintiff, due to which he has rushed to this Court.

(3.) The application was urgently circulated day before yesterday (21/1/2025). The defendants were represented by counsel and they raised serious objection with regard to the delay on the part of the plaintiff in approaching this Court. They relied upon the settled position of law that when a plaintiff approaches the Court at the eleventh hour in such cases, the Court is not to entertain prayers for urgent ad-interim reliefs. In that light, the learned counsel for the defendants submitted that short affidavits could be tendered before this Court along with relevant documents to show that the necessary details about the proposed film "Sky Force" were in the public domain, atleast since October 2023 about which the plaintiff was admittedly aware, as per the pleadings in the plaint itself. In that light, this Court granted opportunity to the defendants to keep ready such affidavits for perusal of the Court, along with relevant documents.