On Thursday, the Delhi High Court issued a summons on the case filed by Cine1 Studios Private Limited, the co-producer of the ‘Animal’ movie seeking to restrain the movie’s release in OTT platforms. However, the suit is also filed against T-series, looking for direction for the film’s stay on any streaming platform.
What Delhi High Court order?
Justice Sanjeev Narula issued summons to the defendants and granted them time to file a written statement, after admitting the suit. Additionally, he stated to file an affidavit of admission or denial of the plaintiff (Cine1 Studios). The bench granted a timeline of 15 days to the plaintiff to file replication for the receipt of the written statement. The matter was listed before the Joint registrar for completion of pleadings and marketing of exhibits on March 15.
Moreover, the bench noted that the senior lawyer Sandeep Sethi, counsel for the plaintiff, relied on the affidavit on behalf of the plaintiff, and with certain orders and relevant documents to explain the stand on the second amendment agreement on August 2, 2022. The counsel for the plaintiff was granted time to take on the instructions about the document presented by senior lawyer Amit Sibal, counsel for T-Series, on the second amendment agreement between the parties.
The court permitted the counsel parties to file a brief note of submissions (if any), not exceeding three pages, along with related case laws, before the next hearing scheduled on January 22, 2024. However, the case filed by Cine 1 Studios is said to be on the finance and intellectual property of the movie.
The Cine1 Studios Claim and case filed on T-Series
The Cine1 Studios Private Limited claims that the Super Cassettes Industries (T-Series) entered into the acquisition agreement in 2019, and a letter in 2021, another agreement amendment agreement in 2022, where the parties agreed that they would have 35% ownership of ‘Derivative rights’ and ‘intellectual property’ of the Animal movie. In addition, it was agreed that the plaintiff would get 35% of the profit share. However, the plaintiff claimed that the Super Cassettes continuously breached its contractual rights.
The senior lawyer from the plaintiff side Sandeep Sethi explained the suite, “Super Cassettes has not only released the film without consent…but also incurred expenses for promoting and releasing the film…”. Furthermore, the dispute on the breach of the agreement claims by the Cine1 Studios, where they alleged no payment was given on the film’s production. Meanwhile, the Super Cassettes (T-Series) claim to paid Rs 2.6 cr. Further, depending on the arguments that will commence on the upcoming hearing dates the court’s decision will describe the outcome.
Expected Outcome
The Cine1 Studios sues T-series and Netflix India over alleged breach of contract. They claim non-transparency in revenue and demand to stop the film’s OTT release on January 26, 2024.
The Delhi HC summons a restraining order that could delay the debut, depending on the court’s proceedings. Overall, this case could set a precedent for co-production agreements and revenue sharing in the Indian film industry.
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