Cable guys vs Hollywood bigwigs — HC clamps down on local networks

The other five petitioners are Paramount Pictures, Metro-Goldwyn Mayer Studios, Tristar Pictures, Universal City Studios and Lucasfilm.

The court today restrained the two cable operators “from exhibiting films made by these Hollywood companies on their their cable network” and directed the police “to provide necessary assistance in execution of the order”.

The petitioners alleged that these two cable networks, which covered almost the entire country, had recently shown films like Speed, Comando, Blade, Mad City, As Good As It Gets, Ronin, Wag the Dog, The Edge, The Mask of Zorro, Wild Things, Six Days Seven Nights, Delta Force, City of Angels, Hard Rain and Home Alone illegally.

The petitioners claimed that according to the first schedule of the International Copyright Order, 1991, the Indian Copyright Act, 1957 and the Copyright Amendment Act, 1994, they had exclusive rights to show or make copies of these films. The cable operators by showing these films without authority had violated the Acts.

The Hollywood companies told the court that film production was an extremely complex, time-consuming and costly affair and a well-defined distribution strategy was therefore absolutely necessary for its success.

The film is first released in cinema halls and after it has completed its run in the theatres, the movie is released in other formats, commonly known as windows like video, cable and satellite TV, the petitioners said.

“At each stage (window) it is important to protect the film from being screened on any other media than that selected by the distributors,” counsel for the petitioners Mukul Rohtagi and Chander M. Lall said.

The companies also said there was a nexus between cable operators and persons engaged in production or import of pirated prints.

During a raid conducted recently on the premises of the defendants in Mumbai, video cassettes of a yet-to-be-released Hollywood hit in India was recovered, they said. “It is therefore apparent that prints of Star Wars Episode I — The Phantom Menace are already available in the Indian market and it is a matter of time before it is shown on the cable network,” the petition said.

They also said such unauthorised duplication and exhibition of new films by the cable network was causing irreparable injury to the petitioners and these production houses had therefore been forced to legal recourse.