Copyright battle over Drishyam 2 as Viacom moves Bombay High Court seeking injunction against Panorama Studios from producing sequel

Viacom 18 Media Pvt. Ltd. has moved the Bombay High Court seeking to restrain against Panorama Studios International Ltd. and Panorama Studios Pvt Ltd (Defendants) from producing any sequel to the 'Drishyam franchise' in Hindi language on the ground that it infringes their copyright (Viacom 18 Media Private Ltd v. Panorama Studios International Limited)..Viacom prayed for recognition and adjudication of copyright and other rights in the production of sequel to the film in the 'Drishyam franchise' which includes a film on the continuation of the story from the previous story..Viacom also moved an urgent application seeking interim reliefs which was heard by Justice GS Patel on Wednesday..During the hearing, Panorama Studios International Ltd. and Panorama Studios Pvt Ltd undertook that they will not begin shooting of the film till the next date of hearing of Viacom's application. .The Court recorded the same. It also recorded that if any preparatory work, such as developing a script, screenplay or dialogue is undertaken, then this will be at their own risk, and that they will not be entitled to claim any equities on that basis under any circumstances whatsoever.."The statement is that the two Defendants will not themselves or through any other person with whom they may have a contract or arrangement, begin the shooting of the film in question, i.e. a sequel to the film Drishyam. The first version was in both Malayalam and Hindi and featured amongst others, the actors Ajay Devgn and Tabu. Mr Naik for the 2nd Defendant accepts that if the 1st and 2nd Defendants take up any preparatory work, such as developing a treatment, script, screenplay or dialogue, this will be at their own risk, and that they will not be entitled to claim any equities on that basis under any circumstances whatsoever. These statements are accepted as undertakings to the Court," the order said..Viacom arraigned the following entities as parties to the suit: Panorama Studios International (PSI) and its subsidiary Panorama Studios Private (PSP) who were the co-producers of the Hindi remake of 'Drishyam'; Aashirwad Cinemas, producer of the original Malayalam version of the film; Wide Angle Creations (WAC) and Raj Kumar Theatres Pvt Ltd. (RKT) who allegedly transferred the rights of the Malayalam film to Viacom..The suit stated that WAC and RKT had executed a Remake Rights Agreement with Viacom assigning exclusive, absolute, irrevocable and perpetual copyright to produce new films by adapting the Malayalam film 'Drishyam', to Viacom.In 2017, PSP approached Viacom expressing its desire to produce the prequel or sequel of the Hindi version of 'Drishyam' and Viacom expressed its interest to co-produce the film.Dissatisfied with the terms and proposal of Line Production Agreement (LPA), Viacom sent its own terms of "right of first refusal" (ROFR) to which Panorama issued no response, it was contended. .Meanwhile Aashirwad cinemas commenced production of Malayalam sequel to Drishyam. WAC sent a notice to Viacom to respond on the exercise of their ROFR which Viacom could not due to the pandemic. WAC then assumed Viacom was not interested and informed Aashirwad Cinemas that it was free to deal with the same as it deemed fit..Viacom called upon WAC to issue a fresh formal communication contending that non-response cannot be deemed as a waiver of the reserved right - ROFR.Viacom also invoked the force majeure clause citing the pandemic as a reason for the non-response. .Viacom stated that they had been vested with exclusive right to create/ produce the Drishyam Hindi version franchise and was also provided with an option to the story of the Malayalam sequel.."Hence WAC's right to purchase the remake rights in the Malayalam film is at best held nominally by WAC for the exclusive benefit of Viacom as a fiduciary of Viacom," the plea stated. .Viacom argued that the conduct of defendants seemed to divulge an unfair and dishonest alliance as was evident from their actions. To call out and address such malafide conduct, Viacom issued a detailed notice asserting its exclusive rights and to desist the defendants from violating Viacom's copyrights. .Dissatisfied with the responses received from the defendants, Viacom approached the High Court with the present suit seeking permanent injunction. .Senior Advocate Vineet Naik with Advocate Karthik Desai appeared for PSP. Advocates Rashmin Khandekar and Rahul Punjabi appeared for Aashirwad Cinemas. Advocates Hiren Kamod and Kunal Kanungo (Kanungo & Co.) appeared for WAC. Viacom 18 was represented by Senior Advocate Ravi Kadam, Advocates Ashish Kamat and Thomas George (Saikrishna Associates). PSI was represented by Advocate Sumanth Anchan. .[Read Order]