DOLLAR INDUSTRIES (PVT.) LIMITED vs KAMRAN AKHLAQ Ss — 2023 PLD 296 KARACHI-HIGH-COURT-SINDH

Fields are extracted from the reported citation and judgment text. Where a detail is not stated in the record, it is not shown.

DOLLAR INDUSTRIES (PVT.) LIMITED VS KAMRAN AKHLAQ Ss. 56, 60, 60a, 66 & 72---Specific Relief act (I of 1877), Ss. 42 & 54---Suit for declaration and injunction---Intellectual property---Infringement of copy right work---Plaintiffs claimed to be the first original creator, adopter, sole owner and exclusive right holder of a cartoon character named "Dollar Mascot" and its various forms and variation including colour scheme and artistic work which was duly registered under Copyright Ordinance, 1962---Plaintiffs alleged that defendant in order to deceive and cause confusion amongst the buyers displayed, uploaded and offered for sale the same cartoon character and its various forms/modes through an internet website---Validity---Offering independent protection to fictional characters would limit the pool of raw material and would do a great disservice to public---Main concern of copyright law was to promote progress of arts and at the same time to secure an everlasting source of revenue for the creator of a fictional characters---Defendant infringed copyrighted work of plaintiffs, as he took entire work from plaintiffs' platform and offered it for sale (or downloads) to third parties, not only infringing copyright but at the same time inducing dilution of plaintiffs' trademark rights in that character---Where a copyright in any way was infringed, its owner was entitled to all such remedies by way of injunction, damages and accounts--- Civil remedies for such infringement were provided in S. 60 of Copyright Ordinance, 1962, whereas S. 60a of Copyright Ordinance, 1962, offered special remedies to apply to a court for immediate relief, notwithstanding regular proceedings in the form of a suit or civil proceedings which were not initiated by then---Eventualities as to how a copyright work stood infringed were enumerated in S. 56 of Copyright Ordinance, 1962, while S. 66 of Copyright Ordinance, 1962, was responsible for punishment, and S. 72 of Copyright Ordinance, 1962, suggested procedure for criminal cases---Defendant left no stone unturned to infringe plaintiffs' copyrighted work and scheme of law fully supported the plaintiffs---Suit was decreed, in circumstances.

DOLLAR INDUSTRIES (PVT.) LIMITED vs KAMRAN AKHLAQ Ss — 2023 PLD 296 KARACHI-HIGH-COURT-SINDH

Case information

Judgment text as reported

Other judgments reported in 2023 PLD