MADURAI: Clearing the decks for the release of the Rajinikanth-starrer Lingaa on the superstar’s birthday December 12, the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court has dismissed a petition filed by an aspiring filmmaker who claimed that to be the author of the movie’s script.
The petitioner K R Ravi Rathnam had alleged that K S Ravikumar the director of Lingaa had plagiarised the script which he had penned for a film titled Mullai Vanan 999, which was uploaded on YouTube.
After hearing the petitioner and the respondents - Ravikumar and Rajinikanth,
Justice M Venugopal said the court has come to an inevitable conclusion that the issue at hand was a private dispute.
The merits of claims made by the parties cannot be investigated in a summary proceeding under Article 226 of the constitution.
“That apart, when the petitioner claims to be the owner of Mullai Vanan 999, which is an intellectual property/story, then his remedy is not to file the present writ petition against the persons concerned who have alleged to have infringed his copyright/stolen his intellectual property.
“In this regard, the appropriate remedy for him is to file a Civil Suit before the competent forum or to avail other remedies available under General Law or Criminal Law. Viewed in that perspective, the writ petition fails,” the judge said in his order.
Consequently he dismissed the petition of the aspiring filmmaker K R Ravi Rathnam.