Status quo ordered on digitising Thiruvilaiyadal

The Madras High Court has ordered maintenance of status quo in respect of digitising the Tamil feature film Thiruvilaiyadal, by both the plaintiff and the defendants.

Justice R Subbiah granted the injunction while entertaining a civil suit from G Vijaya of Vijaya Pictures in Mayiladuthurai, the plaintiff. Gemini Colour Laboratory in KK Nagar West and Sri Vijayalakshmi Pictures in Alwarpet are the defendants.

According to the plaintiff’s senior advocate K Doraisamy, the film was produced and directed by the late A P Nagarajan of Vijayalakshmi Pictures.

In December 1975 Vijayalakshmi Pictures transferred the world negative rights and all attendant rights in favour of Movie Film Circuit for valuable consideration. By agreement of lease dated May 18, 1976, Movie Film Circuit transferred the entire right in favour of the plaintiff, which was still subsisting.

While so, the second defendant — Sri Vijayalakshmi Pictures — issued an advertisement in a Tamil newspaper on May 18, 2012 stating that it was the owner of the rights of the film and anybody desirous of exhibiting the same in digital format should only approach it.

Doraisamy contended that the plaintiff was the entire copyright owner of the film in question and no other could claim to.  The judge ordered status quo to be maintained by both the parties.