Copyright: Zee defers telecast of web series by 15 days

Zee Entertainment has informed the Bombay High Court that it will not telecast its forthcoming web series ‘Baal Shiv, Mahadev Ki Andekhi Gatha’ till September 15 following a suit filed by script writer Chotenlal Saini alleging copyright infringement and confidentiality breach.

The web series was to be launched on Zee Entertainment’s OTT platform Zee5 on August 31. The court has allowed Zee Entertainment to continue airing promos of the web series on its channels with rescheduled date without any prejudice.

Justice Gautam Patel has also asked Zee Entertainment to show 10 episodes of the web series to Saini and his legal representative. However, the court has made it clear that Saini shall not record or videotape the episodes shown to him.

The court was hearing a suit filed by Saini alleging that Zee Entertainment Enterprise and Zee Studios Limited had infringed copyright of his idea of ‘Baal Shiv’ and breached the confidentiality clause under which he had narrated his script to them in December 2018.

Zee’s counsel Virendra Tulzapurkar had opposed the suit claiming the concept of ‘Baal Shiv’ was neither new nor unique as claimed by Saini. “An episode of Baal Shiv was aired in another serial called Devon Ke Dev, Mahadev, in 2013.”

“What he is claiming to be his unique idea had been in the public domain and hence anyone can develop it (idea). No copyright subsists on the idea,” he argued.

The court has allowed Zee Entertainment to continue airing promos of the web series on its channels with rescheduled date without any prejudice