What is the whole matter?

In fact, the person who has been fined by the court, had created a website in the name of the film ‘Sholay’ – Sholay.com, and used the pictures and videos related to this film in an unauthorized manner. Against this, the makers of the film Sholay approached the court and the High Court, giving an important decision, imposed a fine of Rs 25 lakh on the owner of the website. In this case, the lawyer on behalf of the website argued that the films cannot be registered under the Trademark Act, which was rejected by the court.

‘Film titles entitled to protection under law’

Hearing the matter, Justice Pratibha M Singh said, “Titles of historical films are entitled to protection under the ‘trademark law’ as these titles are very high among generations of Indians. The cast, dialogues, settings and box office collections of this film are legendary. Some films cross the limit of simple words and the title of this film ‘Sholay’ is one of those films.

’25 lakh to be given within three months’

In its judgment, the court said, “The website clearly used the name of Sholay movie in a malicious and dishonest manner. Similarly, the website violated the rules by selling the film’s logo, design and DVD of the film. Therefore, this court finds the owner of the website guilty of violating the trademark law in the case and orders to pay Rs 25 lakh as damages. The website owner will have to pay this amount to the other party within three months.

What the website said in its defense

Let us tell you that this case of trademark infringement was filed by Sholay Media Entertainment Pvt Ltd against a domain and magazine named after Sholay film. The company alleged that this website and magazine are using the name of Sholay film and its products in an unauthorized manner. At the same time, it was argued on behalf of the website that ‘Sholay.com’ is a website on the Internet, which is used by educated people and hence there is no possibility of any confusion.