The Hindi Film Industry has been continuously witnessing, controversies relating to issues of copyright infringement, censorship and film titles disputes etc. and in line with the same, we cannot ignore a recent trend, whereby the party seeking relief, moves to the court for injunction at a very crucial stage i.e. just before the release of a film infringing the alleged IP rights. Off late, the last minute injunction has become a stratagem by the aggrieved party to their advantage and at the same time causing maximum damage to the commercial viability of the said film.
Recently before the Bombay High Court, a case was brought by Anil Kapoor Film Co Pvt. Ltd. (hereinafter referred as Plaintiff) against Make My Day Entertainment & Another (hereinafter referred as Defendants) for grant of injunction where the application was based on a claim of passing off a movie title. In the present case, Anil Kapoor Film Co Pvt. Ltd. claimed rights in the title “Veere Di Wedding” a film which is yet to release and is under production and on the other hand, the defendant’s movie which is all set to release with the title “Veere Ki Wedding”.