Hogwarts' Pandal Lands Kolkata Durga Puja Organizers In Legal Soup

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Hogwarts' Pandal Lands Kolkata Durga Puja Organizers In Legal Soup

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Written by Chandan Das

Saturday, 13 October 2007

The mad rush for innovative themes for Durga Puja pandals in Kolkata received a major setback when the creator of fictional character Harry Potter filed a copyright violation case against a Kolkata-based puja committee. The suit is filed with the Delhi High Court for using statues of the Harry Potter characters without prior permission.

Lawyers representing the Edinburgh-based author and Warner Brothers, who hold the rights for the Harry Potter series in India, confirmed that a petition had been filed in the Delhi High Court.

The suit seeks restraint order from the court against the Puja organizers in Salt Lake area of the city from using Harry Potter characters on the pandal, Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul issued a notice to the committee and sought its reply by Friday.

The petitioner as well as Warner Brothers, which holds the rights for the Harry Potter series in India, has also sought about £25,000 in compensation for alleged infringement.

The organizers of the Durga Puja committee at Salt Lake created the pandal like the imaginary Hogwarts Castle and now it may have to be dismantled if the copyright violation case continues. The organizers are also on the verge of constructing a mock steam train next to the castle set, which is intended to resemble the Hogwarts Express.

According to one of the organizers, they had no clue that were required to seek permission from the author and asserted that they did not have any commercial motive behind this. He claimed that the immense popularity of Harry Potter prompted the organizers to choose this as a theme. The entire structure is supposed to have cost the organizers around ₤ 15,000.

Meanwhile, kids of the locality are irked over the legal action initiated by the author and her associated. They feel that the move will definitely spoil their festivities, the greatest in eastern India. On the other hand, the organizers too are not sitting with their fingers crossed. They have already decided to send a team of three lawyers, one of them a Supreme Court advocate, to fight their case in the Delhi High Court.

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Comments (2)

1. 13-10-2007 08:17

This is ridiculous. The pandal is not for a commercial purpose. Rowling should withdraw her lawsuit

Written by Anonymous (Guest)

2. 16-10-2007 05:10

one can not hurt the feeling of little children regarding their favorite hero raising that issue...

even this type pandel can help building the interest in children mind and consequently will help them to read the book also...

Rowling should withdraw her suit..

Written by This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it (Guest)

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