On 31 March, India’s state-run television broadcaster Doordarshan was found guilty of copyright infringement by Bombay High Court, which imposed substantive damages upon the broadcaster and other defendants, ordering it to pay documentary film-maker Anand Patwardhan Rs1 million (around US$20,000) for infringing his copyright in the 1975 film Waves of Revolution.
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Doordarshan was accused of using unauthorized footage from Patwardhan’s film, which was based on the Bihar movement led by Jai Prakash Narayan, for its own film 26th June 1975, produced in 2003.
Speaking to Indiantelevision.com, Patwardhan said, “Doordarshan had acquired the rights for Rs500 for each telecast [of my film]. However in 2003 when the Bharatiya Janata Party was in power, the broadcaster had made another film on the emergency which propagated Hindutva. The film had shown representatives from various Hindu parties as the real heroes of the emergency and for that Doordarshan used footage from my documentary which was a total misrepresentation of the truth.”
“It’s ironical,” continued Patwardhan, “while at one side film-makers like us are constantly involved in a battle with Doordarshan so that the [broadcaster] telecasts our films. On the other hand, Doordarshan lands up misusing our films. I hope with this judgment the ‘pubcaster’ learns a lesson.”
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