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Team Code : T27
Before
THE HONOURABLE HIGH COURT OF MUMBAI, MUMBAI,

APPLICATION NO. _____/2016

Jack Samuelson and Brightwalker
Ltd....

Studios

Petitioners
v.
Earl Grey and Edified Comics Ltd ................
............................ Respondents

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INDEX
1. ABBREVATIONS
2. LIST OF CASES AND BOOKS REFERRED
3. LIST OF AUTHORITIES REFERRED
4. STATEMENT OF FACTS
5. ARGUMENTS ADVANCED
6. PRAYER

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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
USED
ABBREVIATION

WORD

Vs
SCC
AIR

VERSUS
SUPREME COURT CASES
ALL INDIA REPORTER

LIST OF BOOKS REFERRED

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

BOOKS REFERRED
Law Relating to Intellectual Property by V.K. Ahuja
Principles of Intellectual Property by N.S. Gopalakrishnan and T.G. Agitha
Law Relating to Intellectual Property by Dr. B.L. Wadhera
Intellectual Property by Elizabeth Verkey
Copyrights Act, 1957

LIST OF AUTHORITIES
REFERRED
1. THE COPYRIGHT ACT OF 1957
2. THE TRADEMARK ACT OF 1999
3. CODE OF CIVIL PROCEDURE

LIST OF CASES REFERRED

1. CAMLIN PRIVATE LIMITED VS NATIONAL PRIVATE INDUSTIES LIMITED

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2. GOPALNATH VS JAGANNATH PRASAD
3. AFFILIATED ENTERPRISES INCORPORATED vs GRUBER 86F, 2d 958 (rst
Cir 1936)
4. CHORION RIGHTS LIMITED vs ISHAN APPAREL, ILR (2010), DEL 481.

STATEMENT OF FACTS

Jack Samuelson is a celebrated author who is celebrated for his work in fantasy
fiction. Mr. Samuelson gained popularity and critical acclaim for his fantasy series A
Ballad of Malice and Power, a series which is based on an entirely fictional land
constituted of Kings, dragons and mystical creatures which have been fused with a
complex and addictive political drama for power. Mr. Samuelson has decided to
publish the Ballad of Malice and Power in a series containing seven books.

The first book was titled a A Flagon of Dreams and was published and released in
the year 1994. This book received tremendous response from youngsters.
Subsequently, Mr. Samuelson released each book at irregular intervals, with the last of
the books being released in 2014. The printed and digitised versions were available
for sale in the US, European Union, Canada, China and the Indian subcontinent.

Due to the overwhelming popularity of the book series and the legions of fans A
Ballad of Malice and Power had, many television networks were prowling for the
exclusive rights to produce A Ballad of Malice and Power in the form of a full
fledged TV series. The rights were acquired by Brightwalker Studios, a US based
network and production company in 2005 and had acquired an exclusive license to
adapt the Ballad of Malice and Power into a full fledged television show called
Valar Dohaeris : The Beginning. BSL released the first season of the series in 2009
and the show was a huge hit and became the most watched show in television history.

The show was available in TV channels in the US. However, it was available for
viewership in India exclusively through a paid online portal named ZoomIn, which
was available in its online portal as well as its mobile application.

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Ms. Earl Grey is a huge fan of Ballad of Malice and Power and she grew up reading
the books written by Jack Samuelson. Ms. Grey was, in particular, fascinated by the
character from the Series called Boromir Bohemia. The character Boromir finds
little mention in the books and is not alive in the ongoing storyline in the books or in
the TV Series. However, the other characters make references to Boromir and his
feats. Boromir is considered to be the greatest conqueror in the land of Vengursa and
was the last man to ride a fully grown dragon. He is also credited with playing an
important role in shaping the political landscape in the Ballad of Malice and Power.

Ms. Grey was disappointed with the fact that the neither the Series nor the books shed
light on Boromir Bohemias character. Ms. Grey believed that she could develop the
character of Boromir Bohemias character beyond the descriptions in the book. Ms.
Grey started this process of developing the character of Boromir by sketching him a
face and a body and gave Boromir his own storyline.

Ms. Grey had started her out her tryst with developing Boromirs character by drawing
the isolated mentions made by Jack Samuelson in the books by collating them and
then she developed her own storyline on the basis of the scarce information regarding
Boromir which had been provided in the books and defined him as the protagonist in
her version of the story. She employed her own imagination to create a plot and a new
world altogether in intricate detail to explain the exploits of Boromir Bohemia. Ms.
Grey titled her work on the life of Boromir Bohemia as The Bohemian Rhapsody.

Ms. Grey expressed her interpretation of Boromir Bohemias life in the form of a
comic strip in her own blog called The Pickwick Papers. It has to be noted at this
stage, neither Samuelson nor BSL decided to pursue any action against Ms. Greys
fanfiction.

Ms. Greys Bohemian Rhapsody became widely popular and garnered a massive
response from readers across the world. The Pickwick Papers broke the 10,000 rank
barrier in the Alexa global website ranking system. Ms. Grey developed her own
fanbase due to this. Owing to frequent visitors to her blog, Ms. Grey started hosting
advertisements and raked in a decent amount of revenue from the advertisers.

Edified Comics [ECL] Ltd., a huge commercial comic book publication and a
company registered and based out of Mumbai, saw a more lucrative and larger
opportunity in Greys work. In late 2014, ECL approached Ms. Grey and secured an

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all compassing IP assignment in The Bohemian Rhapsody in exchange for a hefty
sum as royalty. Ms. Earl Grey agreed to the terms that she will retain creative control
over the story, subject to a basic review from ECLs own creative team. ECL then
initiated the production process.

Before entering the comic book market, ECL wanted to monetize the popularity of
Boromir Bohemia from Greys comics and in order to generate some pre-release hype
among the public, ECL started manufacturing some merchandise of The Bohemian
Rhapsody in India. These products included apparel, costumes, accessories, artwork
wallpapers, stationery and other products. Accordingly on 4th January 2015
(04/01/2015), ECL obtained registration of the word BOROMIR and in pictorial
representation of Boromir Bohemia from the comic book. Released in Februrary
2015, each of the merchandised product bore the distinct image of ECLs logo and the
pictorial representation of Boromir, which was a registered trademark, on their label
and price tag.

A year after the publication of Samuelsons last book in the Ballad of Malice and
Power, BSL released the last episode of the show in 2015, concluding a hugely
successful run on the small screen and garnered 20 million views. Throughout the
series, Boromir finds few mentions and is never visually represented on the show.
Nonetheless, the character of Boromir Bohemia still maintains a pivotal position over
the plotline.

BSL was in no manner oblivious to the potential and importance of Boromirs

character and the feasibility of the character to be potrayed as an independent
character with his own storyline. Accordingly, after the series ended in 2015, BSL
developed and produced a spinoff series called Boromir the Conqueror based on the
life and conquests of Boromir Bohemia. BSL commenced marketing and released a
trailer in June 2015. The show was globally released on 9th February 2016.

Furthermore, ECL released the Bohemian Rhapsody in the ongoing and hugely
popular ComiCraze event in Mumbai on 16 th August 2016. The online version was
available for a modest Rs. 30 and the hard copy was available for sale for a price of
Rs. 59. The Bohemian Rhapsody has since received an overwhelming response
worldwide.

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ISSUES RAISED
1. Is the Jurisdiction of the Case in the judicature of the Mumbai High Court?
2. Is the Respondents work original work?
3. Is the registration of trademark for the term BOROMIR by the defendant valid?

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ARGUMENTS ADVANCED
1. The petitioner humbly submits that this particular suit is tenable at the Honourable
High Court of Mumbai as the defendant company is based and registered out of
Mumbai and the said event which has been constituted as a breach had happened in
the location of Mumbai. According to the Bombay High Court Act 1945, the
jurisdiction of the Mumbai High Court, ( erstwhile Bombay High Court ), extends to :

The town and island of Bombay

The limits of the Port of Bombay, as defined in the Government notification in the
Political department No. 6204, dated 6th June 1930.

The limits of Municipal Boroughs of Bandra, Parle-Andheri and Kurla and of the
Municipal districts of Ghatkopa-Tirol and Juhu1. According to Section 8 of the
Civil Procedure Code.
The petitioner draws attention to the fact that the defendant company Edified
Comics Limited is situated within the boundaries defined by the Limitations Act
1 THE GREATER BOMBAY LAWS AND THE BOMBAY HIGH COURT ACT,
1945

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of 1945 and hence the plaintiff would like to humbly affirm that the Honourable
High Court has the legal jurisdiction for the present issue.
2. The petitioner humbly submits that the defendants work is not an original work as the
defendant had copied the idea of Boromir Bohemia from the plaintiffs work. The
petitioners would like to affirm the fact that the first petitioner is the author of the
work and qualifies as the author of the work and is in collusion with the fact he had
published 7 books in the series titled Ballad of Malice and Power. Since the first
petitioner (the author) is the original owner of the work, the first petitioner is entitled
with the copyright of all related issues to the series. The plaintiff qualifies as the
author according to the definition provided under Section 2 (d) of the Copyrights Act,
19572. The definition provides that author is a person who in the case of literary or
dramatic work is the person who creates the work3. In the present issue, the first
petitioner, Mr. Samuelson qualifies as the author of the work and has the copyright for
the series titled Ballad of Malice and Power. The first petitioner affirms that he gave
the second petitioner, Brightwalker Studios Limited, the exclusive rights to produce
and telecast a Ballad of Malice and Power in cinematographic form. The first
petitioner had used his own imagination to create the world in which Ballad of
Malice and Power.4
The petitioner humbly attract the attention of the Court to the fact that the defendants
work, did not constitute an infringement of the petitioners work by directly
conforming with the requirements of a copyright or a trademark infringement. But,
the defendants have committed an infringement through a combination of factors
which beyond reasonable doubt constitutes an infringement. The respondent has quite
clearly adapted the work of the first petitioner. Section 2(a) (v) of the Copyright Act,
19575 has defined adaptation as In relation to any work, the work involving its
rearrangement or transalation. The first respondent has quite explicitly stood upon
2 THE Copyrights Act, 1957, Section 2
3 Intellectual Property Rights, VK Ahuja, Page 27
4 Principles of Intellectual Property by N.S. Gopalakrishnan & T.S. Agitha, Page 305.
5 The Copyrights Act, 1957, Section 2d

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the shoulders of the first petitioner and has used the existing work regarding the
fictional character Boromir Bohemia and has in this instance, beyond reasonable
directly adapted a small part of the literary work by the first petitioner 6. With
reference to the case Gopaldas v. Jagnath Prasad it came to know that the first
respondent has rearranged all the information regarding the character Boromir
Bohemia and had arranged the sparse information in a chronological order and had,
with the help of this collected information developed the story of Boromir7.
The petitioner would like to attract the attention of the Honourable Court to the fact
that the first defendant had not created any related content regarding Boromir
Bohemia and the first defendant had no part in the creation of the character named
Boromir Bohemia. This is quite evident as the defendant had first collated all the
sparse information regarding Boromir Bohemia for starting her work on the
aforementioned character. Thus, the first defendant had no license or any other form
of assent from the first plaintiff, the creator or the author of the series.
3. The petitioner humbly submits that the second petitioner has obtained exclusive rights
for Ballad of Malice and Power and possesses legal rights over all the aspects of his
work. The petitioner would like to attract attention to the fact that the defendants, on
4th January 2015 [04/01/2015] had obtained a trademark registration for the term
BOROMIR. The petitioner humbly would like to point out that the petitioner is the
creator of the series and has all the legal rights regarding the work. The petitioner
would like to humbly submit that the word BOROMIR is widely understood and
associated with the character Boromir Bohemia, a pivotal character in the plaintiffs
story. The plaintiff had held the interest of the readers and viewers by maintaining
some amount of ambiguity over the characters story, which had helped in
maintaining the viewers and readers curiosity. The defendant, Ms. Grey, has without
any doubt used the character created by the first petitioner Mr. Jack Samuelson and
has irrevocably used the revelations of the characters used by the petitioner in the due
6 Laws relating to Intellectual Property Rights by VK Ahuja, Page 46.
7 [1938] AIR ALL (266)

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course of the book and TV Series as a base to develop her story line for the character
Boromir Bohemia. The most fundamental feature for obtaining or issuing a copyright
is the originality of the idea i.e, the idea must be original to the author.8
Section 51 Clause (a) (i) and (ii) of the Copyright Act, 1957 (Amendment 27 of 2012)
defines the infringement of a copyright by a person. It has defined an infringement as the
act to be in relation to the work as a whole or any substantial part of it, either directly or
indirectly. 9
The petitioner would like to present the point that the respondents had in fact, beyond
reasonable doubt, have used the first petitioners creation of the character Boromir
Bohemia and the fleeting glimpses provided into the character by the first petitioner Mr.
Jack Samuelson to build the story of Boromir Bohemia. The petitioner would like to
humbly direct attention to the fact that most importantly, the idea of the mysterious
character of Boromir Bohemia was used and the above mentioned creations of the author
was the base to create the first defendants story10. The legal definition for originality had
been established by the Court. The term original does not demand an original or an
inventive thought, but the condition was that the work should not be copied 10. Thus, it has
been proved beyond reasonable doubt that the very source of idea for the respondent had
originated from the plaintiff and it is evident that the copyright held by the plaintiff has
been infringed and furthermore, the petitioner would like to attract the attention of the
Honourable High Court that the petitioners hold exclusive rights over all issues relating to
Ballad of Malice and Power, which includes the rights over the character holding a
pivotal position over the plotline Boromir Bohemia. The plaintiff production company
had exclusive rights over all the adaptation titled Valar Dohaeris : The Beginning. The
plaintiff companys hence has the right to produce any work relating to any character or
issue in the Ballad of Malice and Power.
8 Law Relating to Intellectual Property Rights by V.K. Ahuja, Page 26.
9 The Copyrights Act, 1957.
Page 105.
10 [2002] (Del HC)

10

Law relating to Intellectual Property by V.K. Ahuja,

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Hence, the petitioners humbly request the Honourable Court to cancel the trademark
registration of the word BOROMIR by the defendant company Edified

Comics

Limited as it is a matter of fact that the Petitioners have created and hence, hold the
license for Boromir Bohemia and any literary and cinematographic work related to
Ballad of Malice and Power. The first plaintiff had created and coined the term
BOROMIR and the term created by the plaintiff is unique and distinctive. The term is
commonly associated with the distinctive character created by the first petitioner.
Therefore, the plaintiffs would like to humbly affirm that the petitioners hold an implied
trademark over the term. The respondents are trying to create confusion in the minds of
the buyers as to the fictional character also mentioned and shown in the television series
released on 9th February 2016 [09/02/2016] or the comic character created by the
respondents in the form of a comic character. According to Section 57 1 (b) of the
Copyrights Act, 1957, the moral rights of the first petitioner has been infringed. The
respondent has used a part of the first petitioners work by mutilating the part concerning
the character Boromir Bohemia.11
The petitioners would further like to draw attention to the fact that the respondents have
further infringed the economic rights of the petitioner by using his work in a certain
way.12 In this case, the respondents have used the scarce information regarding the
character Boromir Bohemia to create a separate storyline by the first respondent to use
the interest and popularity of the character Boromir Bohemia by the respondents.

11 The Copyrights Act, 1957 Law Relating to Intellectual Property Rights by V.K. Ahuja,
Page 79.

12 Law Relating to Intellectual Property Rights by V.K. Ahuja, Page 59

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PRAYER
In the light of arguments advanced and authorities cited, the Petitioner humbly submits that
the Honble Court may be pleased to adjudge and declare that:
1. An Interlocutory Injunction against the Respondents from merchandising
2. Damages worth Rs. 1,00,00,000 ( Rupees One Crore ) for unlawful use of the
plaintiffs work.

Any other order as it deems fit in the interest of equity, justice and good
conscience.

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