Satyajit Ray first owner of copyright in film Nayak; right to novelise screenplay with him: Delhi High Court

The Delhi High Court held on Tuesday that the first owner of copyright in the 1966 Bengali film ‘Nayak’ is legendary filmmaker late Satyajit Ray who wrote the screenplay for the movie..Hence, Justice C Hari Shankar ruled that Ray had the right to novelise the screenplay and that right could be assigned him, and consequent on his demise, by his son and others on whom the right devolved.The Court, therefore, rejected a plea by the producers of the flim, RDB and Co. (plaintiff) seeking injunction against publishing house HarperCollins (defendant) from publishing the novelisation of the film’s screenplay.“The assignment of the right to novelize the screenplay of the film 'Nayak' by Sandip Ray and the SPSRA in favour of the defendant is, therefore, wholly in order and in accordance with the provisions of the [Copyright] Act,” the Court held..RDB and Co approached the High Court stating that Ray was commissioned by RD Bansal (Karta of RDB & Co) to write the screenplay of the film Nayak and direct the same. Sometime around 2018, Bhaskar Chattopadhyay novelized the screenplay of the movie and the novel was published by HarperCollins on May 5, 2018.The plaintiff claimed that the novelization of the screenplay by Bhaskar Chattopadhyay and the publication of the novel by the defendant, constituted infringement of their copyright within the meaning of Section 51 of the Copyright Act..After considering the case, Justice Hari Shankar held that the conclusion of Section 17 of the Copyright Act is that Ray, as the author of the screenplay of Nayak, was the first owner of the copyright in the said film.Therefore, the contention that the producer is the owner of the copyright in the screenplay in the film Nayak cannot be accepted, the Court ruled.“For the aforesaid discussion, the plaintiff has no right whatsoever, in law, to injunct the defendant from novelizing the screenplay of the film 'Nayak',” Justice Hari Shankar concluded..Advocates Hemant Daswani, Siddhant Shrivastava and Sarabpreet Singh appeared for the producers.HarperCollins was represented through Obhan & Associates - Ms Swathi Sukumar (Of Counsel), Ms Ashima Obhan (Senior Partner), Ms Taarika Pillai (Partner), Naveen Nagarjuna and Tarini Sahai. .[Read Judgment]