Can a phrase be someone’s private property?

Filmmakers are increasingly getting into legal wrangles over movie titles

The makers of an upcoming Marathi film, Lai Bhari (‘Very Good’), starring Bollywood actor Riteish Deshmukh with a guest appearance by Salman Khan, face an unusual problem. The founders of a Marathi social network site, Laibhari.com, have filed a court case saying that the title belongs to them. ‘Lal bhari’ is a popular Marathi phrase, and on 3 July, the Bombay High Court dismissed the petition and stated that phrases cannot be owned by anyone. ‘Trademark infringement claims cannot be allowed to still the tongue of an entire populace, even in the slightest,’ noted the court.

Earlier this year, the makers of an upcoming Bollywood film, Action Jackson, were asked by Warner Bros not to use the title since it had made a Hollywood film of the same name in 1988 and registered it as a trademark. The Hindi film’s director is Prabhudeva, who had to tweak the title of his last film from ‘Rambo Rajkumar’ to R… Rajkumar, as ‘Rambo’ was a registered trademark. Last year, rumour had it that a filmto be titled ‘Aman Ki Asha’ became Total Siyappa because the former term was a newspaper’s own.

Stating that the title of Action Jackson will not be altered, Naishaidh Mankad, compliance officer and company secretary of Baba Films, which is co-producing the movie, says, “How can someone claim to own a film title? That way, James Cameron’s Avatar couldn’t have been called that since there’s also a Hindi film with that title.”

Mahesh Bhagnari, a lawyer who specialises in intellectual property law, explains, “Often firms become overzealous to ensure that there is no dilution of their hold over trademarked or copyrighted property.” Laibhari. com’s founders have appealed against the court decision. “If we allow this film,” says Sanyog Shelar, a co-founder of the site, “our hold over this phrase [will get weakened]. We warned them earlier, but they refused to listen.”

Lai BhariLal bhariRiteish Deshmukh