In a recent ruling on Tuesday, the Delhi High Court denied the request made by the producers of the movie to stop HarperCollins from publishing a novelization of the screenplay for the film ‘Nayak.’ The court determined that the late renowned filmmaker Satyajit Ray, who wrote the screenplay for the 1966 Bengali film, holds the original copyright as the first owner.
Justice C Hari Shankar further ruled that Ray possessed the right to adapt the screenplay into a novel, which could be assigned to him during his lifetime and subsequently passed down to his son and other rightful successors. As a result, the court rejected the injunction sought by the film’s producers, RDB and Co., against HarperCollins to prevent the publication of the novelization.
The court concluded that the assignment of the rights to novelize the screenplay of ‘Nayak’ to Sandip Ray and the SPSRA (Satyajit Pather Sathi Ray Association) by the defendant, HarperCollins, is lawful and in compliance with the provisions outlined in the Copyright Act.
During the proceedings, RDB and Co. argued that Ray was commissioned by RD Bansal, representing RDB & Co., to write the screenplay and direct the film Nayak. In 2018, Bhaskar Chattopadhyay adapted the screenplay into a novel, which was subsequently published by HarperCollins on May 5, 2018.
The plaintiff contended that the novelization of the screenplay by Bhaskar Chattopadhyay and its publication by HarperCollins infringed upon their copyright as per Section 51 of the Copyright Act.
Upon analyzing the case, Justice Hari Shankar referred to Section 17 of the Copyright Act and concluded that Ray, as the original author of the screenplay for the film ‘Nayak,’ holds the rightful copyright ownership. Thus, the court rejected the producer’s claim to copyright ownership of the screenplay.
Based on the aforementioned reasons, Justice Hari Shankar determined that the plaintiff lacks the legal right to prevent the defendant from novelizing the screenplay of ‘Nayak.’
