The Delhi High Court has dismissed Pocket FM’s plea for an interim injunction against Disney+ Hotstar’s Telugu web series ‘Yakshini’ over alleged copyright violations.
Pocket FM had moved the court contending that the video series on the Disney+ Hotstar bears numerous similarities to its own audio series of the same name. The audio platform also stated that it had provided its series ‘Yakshini’ to Disney+ Hotstar for adaptation into a video series, as per reports.
While rejecting Pocket FM’s application, Justice Neena Bansal Krishna, presiding over the vacation bench, stated that an interim injunction cannot be granted at this stage. The court noted that no concrete facts have been established to prove a copyright violation of the expression of an idea, reports stated.
Disney+ Hotstar has stated that its web series was not inspired by Pocket FM’s audio series. The platform clarified that Yakshini is a well-known mythological character with extensive literature available. The video web series has been adapted from this existing literature.
The video streaming platform stated that Pocket FM had signed a ‘release form’ explicitly waiving any claim to proprietary rights for all previously submitted works during their negotiations.
The reports quoted the bench saying in its order, “The plaintiff (Pocket FM) may have prepared an audio series on this work, but there is nothing at this stage to say that the adaptation of the character of Yakshini in the video web series is almost similar or identical to the work of the plaintiff.”
“The similarity of name cannot be the sole criteria, especially because it is a mythological character on which admittedly various works, movies and books are already available.”
Meanwhile, the bench has scheduled the main appeal of Pocket FM for a hearing on July 10.
