Fans of the Harry Potter series may know how zealously the multi-million dollar brand is guarded. Recently, for example J .K.Rowling took a man described as one of her biggest fans to court for attempting to publish a book based on a website of Harry Potter lexicon that he ran (link) . (Ironically, Rowling blessed the website but objected to the book as plagiarism)
The Mumbai – based producers at Mirchi films should not therefore have been surprised when Warner brothers slapped a defamation suit on them
Warner Bros. has filed a lawsuit against Mumbai-based producer/distributor Mirchi Movies related to the title of its upcoming film “Hari Puttar — A Comedy of Terrors,” which Warner feels is a tad too similar to its franchise about a certain young wizard. (link)
“Puttar” means “son” in Punjabi and the “Hari Puttar ” jokes started shortly after the books took off. In fact the movie “Kal Ho Na Ho” had some dialogue around the Potter/Puttar theme – Karan Johar should probably get some good legal advice!
Whatever the merits of this particular case, its a good lesson for the Indian film industry.After years of ripping off plotlines, tunesand even scene by scene ( albeit awful) recreations of English movies and music, its time they realized that in an increasingly connected world they cannot hope to get away with flagrant plagiarism (Anu Malik – are you listening?)
Meanwhile the Mirchi folks have predictably come out with a very lame tepid response:
“Since the case is sub-judice, we can’t comment as of now,” Mirchi Movies CEO Munish Purii said. “However, we registered the ‘Hari Puttar’ title in 2005, and it’s unfortunate that Warner has chosen to file a case so close to our film’s release. In my opinion, I don’t think our title has any similarity or links with ‘Harry Potter.”‘
Watch this space for more updates!
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