Bombay high court allows release of Emotional Atyachar

The Bombay high court on Thursday cleared the film Emotional Atyachar for release, asking its makers to display a disclaimer stating that the film had nothing to do with a reality show of the same name.

The film starring Vinay Pathak, Ranvir Shorey and Kalki Koechlin was to be released on Friday. However, production house UTV, Genx Entertainment and others had sought a stay, alleging that they had a copyright over the name, and their reality show with the same title was running on television channel UTV Bindaas.

A division bench of chief justice Mohit Shah and justice Dhananjay Chandrachud asked the film’s producers, Purple Haze Motion Pictures, to insert a disclaimer in the film and in its advertisements by way of posters and newspaper advertisements.

UTV’s contention was that they had registered the title in 2008 with the association of TV producers. Its lawyer V Tulzhapurkar argued that viewers would associate the TV show with the film because of the name.

The film’s producers claimed to have registered the title with the Indian motion pictures producers’ association. Their lawyer SU Kamdar argued that the reality show and the film had completely different content, and there was no question of the film’s producers ‘passing it off’ as something related to the show.

The court also referred the case for a final hearing to a three-member bench, as there are differing views on the issue. The court asked the film’s producers to give a bank guarantee of Rs50 lakh to UTV and others, pending the hearing of the case.

http://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/report_bombay-high-court-allows-release-of-emotional-atyachar_1432796