Copyrights: Court returns damages suit filed by poet’s son

Says it does not have jurisdiction over the matter

PESHAWAR: A local court returned a damage suit to a plaintiff on Tuesday as it does not have the jurisdiction to hear the matter. The suit was filed by Shah Mehmood, the son of renowned local poet Sultan Mehmood Qalandar, over the use of his father’s poetry without his consent.

Civil judge Muhammad Ishaq returned the suit after a respondent’s lawyer, Mian Saifullah Kakakhel, said the court could not hear the case as separate tribunals had been constituted to address such matters.

The suit was returned under Order 7, Rule 10 of the Code of Civil Procedure 1908 and directed the plaintiff to submit his claims before the Intellectual Property (IP) tribunal. Talking to The Express Tribune, Kakakhel said the petitioners had demanded Rs20 million for damages and Rs0.5 million as share of profit.



“District courts cannot hear cases referred to IP tribunals,” he added.

Mehmood had filed a copyright infringement suit and took issue with the fact that his father’s poetry was used in a song for a Pashto film titled Badnaam.

In his suit, the plaintiff stated his father ran an association – called the Qalandar Pukhtu Adabi Jirga, Badhaber – which was now registered under his name. As a result, Mehmood held the copyrights to his work.

“The respondent’s denial of my right to use or sell Qalandar’s poetry is illegal,” the petition stated.

Mehmood added one of his father’s poems, Pregda ma Pregda, was featured as a song in the Pashto movie produced and directed by Nadar Shah. The movie was screened at Aaina Cinema in Khyber Bazaar.

The petitioner said he was enraged that his father’s poetry had been used in an “obscene manner”. He said the poem was written in the praise of God, but Shah had portrayed it in an entirely different light.

“This damaged my father’s prestige and reputation,” the petition added.

He named Shah, singer Almas Khalil, owner and manager of Aaina Cinema, Jehangir Khan, actress Gia Butt and Ziyad Studio musician Shakir Zeb as respondents in the case.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 25^th,  2015.