Written by: Express News Service
2 min readNew DelhiJun 12, 2013 01:58 AM IST
First published on: Jun 12, 2013 at 01:58 AM IST
Accepting a plea by Hamdard National Foundation,the makers of Roohafza,that a dialogue in the recently released film Yeh Jawani Hai Deewani targeted the “impeccable reputation of a household drink”,the Delhi High Court has restrained the filmmakers from releasing it on television.
The court has also issued notices to the director,producer and dialogue writers of the film,asking them to reply to the suit filed by the foundation.
“The defendants (filmmakers),their agents,representatives,assignees or any other persons acting on their behalf are restrained from releasing the home video version of the movie of any other version of the movie on cable television or television which contains the objectionable dialogues as complained in the suit,” ruled Justice Manmohan Singh,who has now asked the respondents to reply to the plea on July 15.
“Prima facie case is made out by the plaintiffs for infringement of trademark,” the court said.
The court order came on an injunction suit filed by the foundation,the manufacturer of Roohafza.
They claimed the product is a household name in and outside India and the film Yeh Jawani Hain Deewani contains objectionable dialogues about the drink.
“The defendants have recently released the movie which has hit the cinema halls and the said movie contains some dialogues which show Roohafza,one of India’s most iconic and trusted brands,in a manner which is detrimental to the interests of brand and the parent organisation Hamdard,” said the plea filed by Hamdard National Foundation.
The foundation’s plea seeks to restrain the filmmakers
from showing the “objectionable content”.
In its plea,the foundation also said: “The dialogues in the movie would definitely damage the goodwill and reputation of the plaintiffs and is an actionable wrong in common law as well as statute….”
The court made it clear that its order was “not applicable to the theatre version of the movie which has already been put to release and the defendants are at liberty to omit the objectionable content from the film and proceed to release the home video version or any television version of the movie”.
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