Karnataka High Court Temporarily Restrains Makers Of 'Wild Karnataka' Documentary From Dealing With The Film In Any Manner

The Karnataka High Court, by way of an interim order operating till August 3, has restrained the makers of the documentary 'Wild Karnataka' from dealing with the film in any manner. The film is a 52 minute natural history documentary based on the state's rich biodiversity, which first premiered on March 3, 2019.A division bench of Chief Justice Abhay Oka and Justice Suraj Govindaraj issued the interim direction while hearing a petition filed by Ravindra N Redkar and Ullash Kumar RK, against alleged commercialization of the film and deprivation of Karnataka Forest Department (KFD) to its rightful share of proceeds.The plea states "The Public Exchequer has been cheated and deprived of Crores of Rupees worth of revenue and furthermore, the Tiger Foundations/P.A.D.F.s have been deprived of donations which would have legitimately served the cause of conservation, especially in the current pandemic when the need to protect our natural resources and maintain a clean and healthy environment is highlighted."The court has issued notices to the respondents returnable on August 3.It has restrained the makers of the film and anyone claiming through them from using, publishing, reproducing, broadcasting, telecasting, marketing, selling, distributing, exhibiting or in any way dealing with the film or any part of it or the raw footage captured by them under the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) entered between them and the Karnataka Forest Depart in November 2014. BackgroundAs per the petition, the 5th to 7th Respondents (Sarath Champati, Kalyan Varma, Amoghavarsha JS), in 2014, approached the 2nd and 3rd Respondents (Principal Chief Conservator of Forest), proposing to produce on behalf of the Karnataka Forest Department a one hour documentary film on the state's rich biodiversity. They also proposed to produce a high quality coffee-table book with the visuals that they would capture along with the film.The plea claims that the Respondents did not seek a waiver of filming fees nor did they seek for free accommodation in the Forest Rest Houses. It was also said that they planned to approach various corporate sponsors in Karnataka in order to fund the execution of this project.Further, the plea claims that the Respondents volunteered that it would be a non-commercial film and any revenues which would accrue, would be donated to the Tiger Conservation Fund/P.A.D.F. They also agreed that copyrights of the film solely vested with the KFD whereas the copyright of the remaining raw footage would be co-owned by the 5th to 7th Respondents and the KFD. The credits on the film and coffee-table book were to be equally given to the KFD and the sponsors.Later, a follow up letter dated 05.04.2014 reiterating their earlier proposal was sent and mentioned the Protected Areas where they proposed to shoot for the film and the time periods. Thereafter, by letter dated August 20, 2014, the state government granted them permission to make the film and accordingly, an MoU was signed.The Petitioners allege that under Section 28 of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, it is only the 3rd Respondent who is the sole statutory authority empowered to sanction the shooting of the film inside Protected Areas. Moreover, no tender or competitive bids were called for, thus violating the provisions of the Karnataka Transparency in Public Procurements Act. The petition claims that the MOU was drafted with a malafide intention to favour the 5th to 7th Respondents with duplicitous clauses, including the clever introduction of the term "raw footage" and separating it from the "60 minute documentary" in order to provide a fertile ground for mis-interpretation and misuse by them, to secure undue financial windfall from the raw footage after capturing the same at a huge loss to the Public Exchequer. It is also alleged that despite the MOU having expired due to the efflux of time on 23.03.2018 itself, the 5th to 7th Respondents entered into agreements with M/s. Icon Films Ltd. without the permission or knowledge of the KFD. They handed over the entire raw footage to M/s. Icon Films Ltd. to edit, produce and deliver a 60 minute film to them for delivery to the KFD. Later, M/s. Icon Films Ltd. and the 5th to 7th Respondents executed a fresh Co-production and Distribution Agreement dated 02.09.2019, once again without the consent or knowledge of the KFD, in order to distribute the film internationally through an exclusive distributor to be appointed solely by M/s. Icon Films Ltd., states the petition. It is also alleged that M/s. Icon Films Ltd. proceeded to execute a Distribution Agreement dated 06.09.2019 with M/s. ITV Studios Global Distribution Ltd., without the approval or knowledge of the KFD, to restrict and handicap the rights of the KFD and their ability to use the film despite being the copyright holder. In this regard it is stated that industry standard geo-blocking and DRM technologies would be used to...

Karnataka High Court Temporarily Restrains Makers Of 'Wild Karnataka' Documentary From Dealing With The Film In Any Manner

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