Soon after the controversy of the ‘IC-814: The Kandahar Hijack’ (ANI vs Netflix India), another but significant court case was launched against Netflix, the popular streaming platform for its merchandise of characters for a superhero flick.
The movie is known to be a Malayalam superhero flick named ‘Minnal Murali’ which was released directly on this OTT platform in 2019, the case was filed based on a plea by its screenwriters Arun A R and Justin Mathew dated 12th of September, issued an injunction order against any further production, distribution, and commercialization of the characters in the much-appreciated superhero film.
The order is based on the announcement of an upcoming movie named ‘Detective Ujjwalan’, with its title teaser containing a reference to the fictional village of Kurukkanmoola where ‘Minnal Murali’ was set, indicating potential ties to the superhero film. Both movies are produced by the Weekend Blockbusters.
Considering the writers’ claim, they didn’t have prior knowledge of new films being introduced into the Minnal Murali universe. The latest court injunction means that Weekend Blockbusters and Netflix, both of which have been named respondents in the order, are now temporarily restrained from making use of the film’s characters for commercial purposes, or any other form of exploitation. However, this issue will also affect the release of an expected movie like ‘Detective Ujjwalan’.
The issue falls under the Copyright Act and Trade Mark Act of 1997 which prevent the right to create spin-offs or merchandise out of them. Also, Amar Chitra Katha Private Limited, Spirit Media Private Limited, and Weekend Blockbusters director Sophia Paul and managing director James Paul are among the other respondents as they were planning to launch a graphic novel by using the titular character to the world of comic books.
As per the edict by the court, any such commercialization would be an infringement upon the writers’ copyright, and this applies to the agents, representatives, or ‘anyone acting on the behalf’ of all respondents. The injunction will be in effect until further orders. It added.
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