Jugjugg Jeeyo: Ranchi court refuses to stay release of movie in copyright infringement suit

A Ranchi court on Thursday refused to stay the release of Bollywood film Jugjugg Jeeyo in a suit claiming copyright infringement [Vishal Singh v. Dharma Productions]..Judge Manoj Chandra Jha dismissed the plea moved by the petitioner and held that the balance of convenience lay in the defendants' favour."The plaintiff is not likely to succeed but presuming that even if they are still, the order for injunction is tilted in favour of the defendants considering the balances of convenience and irreparable loss," said the court..The plea was moved by one Vishal Singh who claimed that his copyright in the story 'Bunny Rani' had been infringed by the defendants when they made the film.It was his submission that a bare viewing of the film's trailer, and comparing the same with plaintiff's story made it amply clear that the defendants had copied, and used the plaintiff's story.The plaintiff, in this regard, demanded a compensation of ₹1.5 crore from the defendants in the suit, and sought an interim stay on the release of the movie..The defendants, on the other hand, argued that there was no prima facie case and that they had spent crores on the movie's production. Therefore, they would suffer irreparable loss if the release of the movie is stayed.It was submitted that costs of around ₹13.95 crores on marketing and promotion and ₹6.05 crores on distribution were incurred. .On examining all factors, the court noted that the plaintiff had filed the suit simply on seeing the trailer of the film. "It is not possible for any person to reach a conclusion about the similarity merely on the basis of one page story with the few minutes trailer of the film," said the judge. .Further, it was found that on considering the amount spent by the defendants for production as opposed to the plaintiff's claim for loss or damages, the balance of convenience lay with the defendants.Therefore, the prayer to stay the release of the movie was rejected..Senior Advocate Ajit Kumar along with advocates Saurabh Arun, Kumar Vaibhabh, Abhay Prakash and Rahul Pandey appeared for the plaintiff. The defendants were represented by Senior Advocate Chander M Lall, Chitranjan Sinha, advocates Indrajit Sinha, Pranaya Goyal, Kundan Kumar Verma and Sneh Singh. Advocates Ameet Naik, Madhu Gadodia, Salona Mittal and Srikant Pillai of Naik Naik & Co. Advocates represented Viacom 18 Media..[Read Order]