Warner Bros? plea that the title of the Mumbai-based Mirchi Productions? (MP) soon to be released movie Hari Puttar bears close resemblance to Harry Potter and hence constitutes infringement of its copyright was dismissed by the Delhi High Court on Monday.
The court held that even if a structural or phonetic similarity in the words ?Harry Potter? and ?Hari Puttar? is assumed, Harry Potter movies are targeted to meet the entertainment needs of an elite and exclusive audience.
Such an audience will be able to discern the difference between films based on Harry Potter books and a Punjabi comedy whose chief protagonist is ?Hari Prasad Dhoonda?, it noted.
Counsel for Mirchi productions Pratibha Singh argued that the title of the movie was registered three years back, in 2005, and Warner Bros should have claimed copyright infringement earlier since it had full knowledge of such a movie being made.
Delay on the part of the Hollywood studio in moving the court was also noted by the High Court.
Incidentally, last year, around the same time, Harry Potter author J K Rowling and Warner Bros had sued a Kolkata Durga puja pandal for recreating characters from the fictional world of Hogwarts, over which the author held the copyright.
