NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court has said that “Sholay” is the title of an “iconic film,” which, as a mark, cannot be held to be devoid of protection and restrained the use of the film title by persons alleged to be misappropriating the same.
The high court, which said certain films, like ‘Sholay’ cross the boundaries of just being ordinary words, also awarded damages of Rs 25 lakh to the makers of the movie Sholay Media and Entertainment Pvt Ltd and Sippy Films Pvt Ltd which had filed the lawsuit against persons using the popular film title to run their businesses.
Justice Prathiba M Singh, while dealing with a trademark lawsuit stated that titles and films are capable of being recognised under the trademark law. The judge noted that the case was contested for over 20 years and the adoption of the mark ‘Sholay’ by the defendants for selling the DVD of the film on their website etc was ‘clearly mala fide and dishonest’ and awarded Rs 25 lakh as costs.