The Delhi High Court has dismissed a plea by American producer John Hart to halt the streaming of the movie 'White Tiger' on Netflix on the basis of copyright infringement. The court noted that Hart had failed to produce or suppressed details of the case and that it could not prevent a film being released on the basis of a simple claim.
"There is no material on record to justify the plaintiffs approaching this court less than 24 hours prior to release seeking stay," Justice C.Harikrishnan noted in his order.
The Justice also noted that despite the issues have gone back at least one and half years, Hart could not make out a prima facie case for why the film should halt screening the day it was due to be released. There were significant financial stakes involved for everyone on the film crew, the court noted, and a stay would be disastrous.
"Merely saying that if this film is released your dreams will be shattered is no ground for grant of an injunction on the release of the film," LiveLaw quoted the judge as saying in response to Hart's claims that he owned the copyright.
Instead, the court directed him to keep track of the financial earnings of the film so that he could be adequately compensated in case he decided to pursue the case at a later date and was successful.