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Copyright dispute rocks LIFW
Suneet Varma has threatened action against Aki Narula and Rani. HT City Exclusive: Designer rip off
Copyright controversy rocked the Lakme India Fashion Week, 2005 on Monday with designer Suneet Varma threatening legal action against designer Aki Narula and actress Rani Mukerji for 'copying' his clothes and using it in a song sequence in a yet-to-be-released Bollywood movie.
"I have consulted my legal team and will serve a notice on all the persons involved, including the actress," Varma told reporters here.
"The clothes used in that particular sequence (in the movie Bunty aur Babli) are a complete rip-off from my fall/ winter 2003 collection and I have no doubt about it," he said.
"I have not designed those clothes for her, which I have used in my campaigns for the collection," he said when asked about the reasons for action against Rani Mukerji.
According to Varma, Narula who is not a participant at this year's LIFW, has been given the option to come up with his side of the story.
"He said it was bought from a store called Options but the clothes didn't have any label on it," Varma said, "adding it is not possible".
While Narula was not available for comment, Fashion Design Council of India said it cannot take any action in the matter.
"FDCI is not a regulatory body. We cannot take any legal action unless we have the concrete proof of copyright infringement," FDCI Director General Rathi Vinay Jha said adding "copying, however, is not acceptable."
All the products need to be registered in order to defend copyright, she said. "In future we would be running courses for our designers to prevent such things," she added.
