Bombay HC disposes off Amar Chitra Katha plea, gives nod to movie

Mumbai: The Bombay high court has disposed off a petition filed by Amar Chitra Katha against a Kerela based film maker for using the comic magazine’s character Shikari Shambhu as the title of his film after the producer agreed to pay the license fees and undertook to not use the character or title without permission.

The publishing house Amar Chitra Katha (AMK) that introduced the character of Shikari Shambhu in its comic magazine Twinkle in the 1980’s filed a suit against

S.K. Lawrence, a Kerela based film producer who had used the name of the fictional character as the title of his film. The publishing house had claimed that as the producer was not agreeable to paying Rs 10 lakh as license fees for using the name the film release should be stayed.

The suit had been filed for passing off and infringement of trademark under Intellectual Property rights.

During the hearing in Justice S.J. Kathawalla’s court, the counsel for ACK informed the court while the amount for the license fee was being discussed since October last year, the producer released the film in January, 2018 and hence there should be a stay on the film as well as restraining orders on the producer from dubbing and releasing the film in other languages.

After hearing the submissions, the court asked Lawrence whether he was willing to pay the Rs 10 lakh  towards license fee. Lawrence agreed and said that he would not use the name without the requisite permissions. After hearing the submissions the court disposed off the suit and all attached cases.