The Bombay High Court on Friday restrained a Jammu-based production house from conducting any auditions for it's upcoming show 999 Bigg Boss Jammu as its fromat is quite similar to the Bigg Boss Hindi reality show. The HC has said that the production house cannot mislead the public at large for it's own benefit.
A bench of Justice Burgess Colabawalla was hearing a plea, urgently moved by Endemol Shine Nederland Producties BV, the original producers of Bigg Brother show, which was first launched in 1999. The global company has been producing Bigg Boss in Hindi since November 2006 and is presently on it's 15th season. It also produces the reality show in local languages like Telugu, Kanada, Bengali and even in Marathi.
Advocate Hiren Kamod, appearing for Endemol argued that the Jammu-based Angel Singh aka Lucky Trading as 999 Productions has been using a similar trademark and logo for their proposed show. He emphasised on the fact that the production house is also conducting auditions for the purported show.
Kamod specified that the upcoming show is expected to have 24 contestants, with 10 celebrities and 10 common citizens with "an X factor" and remaining four would be selected from the social media.
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Justice Colabawalla heard the contentions for some time and passed an ex-parte (after hearing one side) order. He said, "I am of the opinion that the similarity between the rival marks / name / device of eye cannot be a matter of co-incidence. Prima facie, it is clear that the defendant production house have adopted the impugned marks dishonestly with a view to ride upon the goodwill and reputation of the Bigg Boss marks."
"The unique features of the Endemol's format and the literary work in the production bible can be discerned easily from the Bigg Boss show. The proposed show clearly appears to be a copy of the show ‘Big Brother’ / ‘Bigg Boss’," the judge added.
Justice Colabawalla further said that the acts of the defendants are nothing but a systematic attempt to come as close as possible to Endemol’s trade
marks and show, so as to deceive the public or somehow associate the impugned mark and show with theirs.
"The defendants are misleading the public at large for their own benefit. The contestants who are willing to pay money and participate in their show are quite likely to believe that they are participating in an authentic franchise of Endemol like the BIG BROTHER / BIGG BOSS – when in reality, all such
proceeds are directly meant to benefit the defendants," Justice Colabawalla held.
The judge further noted that recently auditions were held in Ludhiana, Punjab for Bigg Boss Jammu, wherein a large number of people had turned up. "This must immediately stop. In the circumstances, an overwhelming prima facie case for infringement of trade mark and copyright is made out by Endemol," Justice Colabawalla said.
The matter would be next heard on December 22, when the production house is likely to respond.
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