NEW DELHI: An Indian film scriptwriter's legal crusade against Hollywood studio giant 20th Century Fox which, he claimed, had stolen his script to make mega blockbuster "Independence Day," came to a naught with the Supreme Court refusing to reconsider its earlier judgment upholding an order issued by the High Court of Karnataka in favour of the studio.

With the dismissal of his curative petition, Veda Nayak, who went in for a protracted legal battle with 20th Century Fox, has exhausted the last legal remedy available in the country.

Mysore-based NRI Film Production Associates, Mr. Nayak's production house, had approached the apex court after the High Court refused to interfere with the decision of a Mysore court. After his petition was dismissed by the apex court, Mr. Nayak unsuccessfully pursued a review petition, and thereafter, moved a curative petition which was dismissed by a five-judge Bench headed by Chief Justice R.C. Lahoti last week.

Besides compensation, Mr. Nayak, a former member of the Writers Guild in Los Angeles, had sought to restrain the Hollywood giant from screening the 1996 film.

He had contended before the apex court that though the High Court had acknowledged infringement, it refused to direct the Los Angeles-based studio to pay damages for infringing the copyright of his film script, "Extra Terrestrial Mission" (ETM).

The filmmaker had submitted that with the dismissal of his petition, "the fallacy" of the High Court order would remain on the statute books. The order had virtually taken away his constitutional right to intellectual property, he argued.

In the review petition before the apex court, Mr. Nayak had contended that the court had not taken note that the High Court ignored depositions by witnesses produced by it. He said the High Court did not apply the tests laid down in Supreme Court judgments on copyright violations.

Seeking annulment of the High Court judgement, Nayak had submitted in the petition that the High Court was wrong in not granting any relief despite holding that "Independence Day" infringed upon the copyright of his film script for "ETM." This was despite the fact that the Copyright Act provided for relief and compensation depending on the profits made and the degree of infringement, the petition said.

The production house had moved the High Court after a Mysore court held that "Independence Day" was different from the script of "ETM," and there was no infringement.

Mr. Nayak, who earlier lived in Los Angeles, had registered his script in the name of NRI Associates in U.S. Copyright Office in 1986, 10 years before the release of "Independence Day."

He alleged that Fox, which registered the "Independence Day" script in 1995, stole the ``basic plot, storyline and key dramatic elements'' from "ETM" while he promoted his script during his stay in Los Angeles during 1985-93 to produce a film. — UNI

Video-conferencing

Mysore Staff Correspondent reports:

The protracted legal battle created a history of sorts when the judiciary introduced video-conferencing facility to conduct the trial in April 2003. The trial through videoconference followed a request from 20th Century Fox to speed up the proceedings.

The trial through video-conferencing assumed importance in the light of Supreme Court upholding a judgment of Bombay High Court to allow recording of statements of witnesses through teleconference trials in the case pertaining to the securities scam. The Mysore court had earlier rejected a request for trial through videoconference.The video-conferencing facility was established in the court hall in Mysore and the studio in Los Angeles. The High Court of Karnataka, while allowing recording of the cross-examination through videoconference, ordered that nobody should be present in the room where witnesses deposed.

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