Copyrights Act Violation: No Relief From Trial for Film Director Koratala

Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court upheld the trial court decision to continue trial proceedings against noted film director and screenwriter Koratala Siva under the Copyrights Act. This pertains to infringement of copyrights regarding the story and screenplay of the Mahesh Babu-starrer 'Srimanthudu,' which was released in 2015. However, the court quashed the criminal conspiracy charges against Siva.

A complaint was lodged by the novelist R.D. Wilison alias Sarath Chandra, who claimed that the movie was based on his award -inning novel 'Chachentha Prema' which was published in a Telugu magazine in February 2012.  He sought action against Siva, producer Yerineni Naveen and G. Maheshbabu Entertainment Pvt. Ltd.

The trial court recorded the statements of the complainant and took cognizance under Section 63 of the Copyright Act and Section 120-B of the Indian Penal Code against the accused and directed issue of summons. Aggrieved by the civil court’s order of a criminal trial, Siva, Naveen and Maheshbabu entertainment approached the High Court in 2017 seeking that proceedings against them be quashed.

Meanwhile, the complainant also approached the High Court for registration of criminal cases against them under sections 420 (cheating), 468(forgery), and 471 of IPC

Justice K. Surender, after considering the facts, dismissed registration of criminal cases of cheating and forgery against Siva and others. Further, the court quashed trial court proceedings against them. But, the court was not inclined to quash the proceedings against Siva, amid allegations of infringements of copyrights Act. But, he was exempted from the proceedings of criminal conspiracy.