Filmmaker Suneel Darshan, who is known for films such as Inteqam and Andaaz, has filed an FIR against the search engine giant Google, its CEO Sundar Pichai and several other employees of the corporation, alleging an infringement of the copyright of his 2017 directorial Ek Haseena Thi Ek Deewana Tha on YouTube.
According to several reports, the director has claimed that though he had not uploaded the movie anywhere, nor sold it to anyone, several channels on YouTube are profiteering off it and Google has refused to take the movie off those channels. His FIR, filed with the MIDC Police Station at Andheri East, alleges infringement of Sections 51, 63 and 69 of the Copyright Act of 1957.
Sharing the information, Darshan told a print publication that his faith and belief in the advancement of technology are implicit, but the infringement of his rights is a cause of grave concern. He added that his entire copyrighted movie, apart from its songs and sequences from it, have been uploaded and monetised, and he had to helplessly watch such illegal acts.
Darshan clarified that it was only after his repeated requests went unanswered that he had to seek legal help. Maintaining that he had the utmost respect for Google, he, however, said the corporation had been unfair to genuine creators. Darshan said that he has total respect for both the technology and the funds that they (Google) bring to India but added that the corporation's reluctance to work with experienced content creators and benefiting from their knowledge had only led to mutual loss, and denied quality content to the audience.
As for his next step, Suneel Darshan stated that he will move according to the law and the advice of his lawyers.
