Kolkata, Sept. 1 -- The Calcutta High Court has refused to restrain a publisher from printing, selling and distributing two books, holding that the plaintiffs failed to establish a prima facie case, balance of convenience or irreparable injury.
Justice Krishna Rao was hearing a copyright dispute over "Applied English Grammar and Composition Anglo Bengali (For High Schools)" and "Beginner's Applied English Grammar, Composition and Translation (Anglo-Bengali-For Beginners)".
Plaintiff no.1 is the author and owner of copyright. Under agreements dated June 15, 2001 and April 22, 2002, he granted the publisher rights to print and publish the books, while copyright remained with the author.
The plaintiffs argued that the agreements had ended after five years under the Copyright Act and alleged that the publisher continued printing, marketing, distributing and selling the books without authorisation.
The court noted that the five-year period expired in April 2007, but the plaintiffs took no steps to restrain the publisher. The publisher continued its work, and on August 23, 2020, plaintiff no. 1 consented to a co-publishing agreement with Katha-O-Kahini Prakashani Pvt Ltd.
The High Court held there was no document showing that the original publication agreements had been substituted or extinguished by the co-publishing agreement. It noted that the latter preserved royalty payable to the author, indicating that the original agreements continued to govern the relationship.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.