20th Century Fox sues B R Chopra Films for plagiarism

Hollywood's famous studio Twentieth Century Fox has moved the Bombay High Court against B R Chopra Films seeking Rs 7 crore damages and an injunction against the release of the Hindi film 'Banda Yeh Bindaas Hai'.

Hollywood's famous studio Twentieth Century Fox has moved the Bombay High Court against B R Chopra Films seeking Rs 7 crore damages and an injunction against the release of the Hindi film 'Banda Yeh Bindaas Hai' alleging it was a remake of Oscar winning 'My Cousin Vinny'.

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The suit will come up for hearing on May 7 before the High Court which will decide on granting interim relief prayed for by the plaintiffs.

This is for the first time that a Hollywood studio has sued an Indian production house for alleged plagiarism and copyrights violation.

In the suit, the American studio contended that B R Films had sought permission to make a film on the story idea of `My Cousin Vinny'. Although the studio had given a nod, rights for making a Hindi remake of the film were not given.

Twentieth Century Fox further contended that after looking at the script of the Hindi film they found it was substantial reproduction of `My Cousin Vinny'. Also the story line was identical, it submitted.

The plaintiffs argued B R Chopra Films was wrongly projecting `Banda Yeh Bindaas Hai' as the authorised remake of the 1992 English film.