Ammara Hikmat the producer of the upcoming movie ‘The Legend of Maula Jatt’, has sent Rs. 500,000,000 legal notice to Mr. Sarwar Bhatti for the circulation of defamatory remarks on both print and social media against the release of their upcoming movie.
Sarwar Bhatti, the CEO of Bahoo Corporation and the producer of Maula Jatt (1979), had challenged the making of The Legend of Maula Jatt claiming it to be the violation of his copyrights.
The 6-page legal notice served under Section 8 of The Defamation Ordinance, 2002, reads as:
The producers of The Legend of Maula Jatt have accused Sarwar Bhatti and his accomplices for defamatory, libelous and false statements circulated by him and his accomplices in The Nation, Pak Films and Facebook.
According to the notice, Mr. Sarwar Bhatti was involved in inaccurately portraying the facts and misleading view, based on perverse understanding of the law of copyright and trademark and for attempting to mislead the public at large to believe that The Legend of Maula Jatt is being produced in violation of the copyrights owned by the producer of Maula Jatt 1979.
The notice states that the ‘Stay Order’ issued by the Learned Intellectual Property tribunal Lahore on 18.11.17 restrained the producers of The Legend of Maula Jatt from releasing the movie after Sarwar Bhatti had challenged it for Infringement of Registered Copyrights Creative Work-Film of the film Maula Jatt in form of title, name of characters, dialogues, music and other work parts of the film and passing off the creative work.
However, the stay order was challenged by Ammara Hikmat and Bilal Lashari and according to the ‘Stay Vacation Order’ issued by the IP tribunal Lahore on 07.08.18 it has been declared that no violation of the copyright has been done by the producers of The Legend of Maula Jatt.
Mentioning previously produced films with titles Maula Jatt Te Noori Natt, Maula Jatt in London, Maula Te Mukkho and Shagird Maula Jatt Da, the notice clarifies that the use of the words “Maula Jatt” in combination with other words cannot amount to any trademark infringement. Therefore the title The Legend of Maula Jatt for a new story and screenplay totally saves the producer and director from any potential legal trouble.
It has also been stated that Sarwar Bhatti’s attempt to disparage the reputation of retired Pakistani Bureaucrat, Mr. Kamran Lashari, father of director Bilal Lashari, is not only unethical but will also be counted as an offense and they have the right to sue him under the laws of defamation.
Since the two copyrights in the respective films are not in conflict of each other in any manner and there is no legal hindrance on Ammara Hikmat and Bilal Lashari to stop The Legend of Maula Jatt from releasing, Mr. Bhatti challenged ‘the Order’ in the High Court where he also failed to get any stay order against the release of the movie.
Warning him to stop this false propaganda, the notice states that after Sarwar Bhatti was refused relief from all forums, he deliberately started a campaign against The Legend of Maula Jatt, because he knew it was going to be a lucrative success.
Comprising of 5 clauses, the legal notice served to Mr. Sarwar Bhatti requires him to:
However, if Mr. Sarwar Bhatti is unable to comply with these demands under 7 days, an appropriate legal proceeding will be initiated against him, which may include:
A few days back, FIA has also summoned an order for Mr. Sarwar Bhatti to appear before FIA for committing online defamation through cyberstalking and incitement, in response to the complaint lodged by Ammara Hikmat.
Starring Fawad Khan, Mahira Khan, Hamza Ali Abbasi, and Humaima Malick, The Legend of Maula Jatt is slated to be released on Eid ul Fitr in 2019.
Watch the trailer below!
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