NEW DELHI, June 28: There seems to be no end to a 26-year-old litigation decided recently by a city court which held an American company, Cooperative for American Relief Everywhere (Care), guilty of infringing copyright of a story `Lakshman kills a tiger' authored by PN Krishnamurthy. The Delhi HC on Friday admitted an appeal filed by Care challenging the May 4 order of additional district judge GS Jugti directing Care to pay Rs 2,31,000 with 18 per cent interest per annum from 1972 to Krishnamurthy.A vacation bench comprising Justices K Ramamoorthy and CK Mahajan, however, directed Care counsels Arun Sinha and Krishan Kumar to deposit Rs 2,31,000 with the HC within eight weeks and posted the matter for further hearing on August 24.Care entered into a contract with Krishnamurthy on September 15, 1970, for publication of the story in the form of a cartoon booklet. By the agreement 15 lakh copies of the booklet were to be printed in Malayalam for the State of Kerala but Care terminated the agreement onDecember 29, 1970, and went ahead with the printing work. Krishnamurthy filed a suit against Care claiming damages for infringement of copyright and for rendition of accounts.
