Pocket FM had moved the court contending that Disney+ Hotstar’s video series had many similarities with its audio series by the same name. The audio platform also claimed that it had given its audio series ‘Yakshini’ to Disney+ Hotstar for adaptation into a video series.
While dismissing Pocket FM’s application, the vacation bench of Justice Neena Bansal Krishna said an interim injunction cannot be granted at this stage since no concrete facts have been established to prove that there is a copyright violation of expression of idea.
In its argument, Disney+ Hotstar said the idea for its web series has not been picked up from Pocket FM’s audio series. It added that Yakshini is a popular mythological character about which abundant literature is available, and the video web series has been adapted based on the available literature.
The video streaming platform argued that Pocket FM had signed a ‘release form’ categorically stating that it would not claim any proprietary rights in all the works that it had earlier submitted to it while negotiating a deal.
“The plaintiff (Pocket FM) may have prepared an audio series on this work, but there is nothing at this stage to say that the adaptation of the character of Yakshini in the video web series is almost similar or identical to the work of the plaintiff,” the bench said in its order.”The similarity of name cannot be the sole criteria, especially because it is a mythological character on which admittedly various works, movies and books are already available,” it added.Meanwhile, the bench has posted Pocket FM’s main appeal for hearing on July 10.
