By IANS
Kolkata/New Delhi : Last year, they made a replica of Swami Vivekananda’s residence, before that it was the Titanic. But a Kolkata puja committee seems to have hit a bad spell this year with their Hogwarts Castle pandal attracting a Rs.2 million fine for copyright violations.
Just when they were getting into the swing of the Durga Puja magic under a giant marquee modelled on the Harry Potter’s school, the FD Block Puja committee in Salt Lake got a rude shock when they received a summons from the Delhi High Court that the decorators must appear in court Friday.
According to the organisers, the summons run into 394 pages and mention J.K. Rowling and others as the plaintiff. It states that the puja committee can carry out the puja after paying Rs.2 million.
Justice S.K. Kaul issued notice to Kolkata’s Mondal Decorators for depicting the Harry Potter characters without seeking the permission of the author, who is based in Britain.
The judge asked the decorator to file a reply to the allegations in the petition.
Counsel Rajiv Nair, appearing for Rowling who has filed a petition in absentia, alleged in the petition that the decorators violated the copyright act without obtaining the mandatory permission from the author.
With only six days to go for the festival, the organisers don’t know what to do.
“The summons has come at a time when the pandal is almost ready. We don’t know what to do now because we can’t afford to pay the fine. We are taking legal help and talking to West Bengal Sports Minister Subhas Chakraborty, our chief patron, to sort out the problem,” block committee president Hiranmoy Roychowdhury said.
“It appears the case was filed by Penguin, distributor of Harry Potter books in India. Our committee representatives will go to Delhi to sort out the matter.”
Said Nirmalya Roychowdhury, the regional sales manager of Penguin India that publishes the Harry Potter books: “I am not sure whether the committee has taken permission for using the name of a very popular character. For using anything related to Harry Potter, written permission is necessary from an appropriate authority. Otherwise, legal action can be taken.”
The hapless puja organisers say the find the situation “unthinkable”. There had never been any court summons to any puja organiser before with Kolkata’s famed pandals choosing different themes every year.
“We don’t do it for business anyway,” said Roychowdhury.
“Every year, we chose a theme for our pandal. Last year, we celebrated Swami Vivekenanda’s birth anniversary by recreating his residence. Earlier, we had set up a pandal on the model of Titanic,” he added.
Roychowdhury, however, said work on the pandal would not be stopped because the court has not issued any such directive.