Press Trust of India Posted online: Sunday, November 24, 2002 at 1850 hours IST
New Delhi, November 24: Is popular TV programme "Jeena Isi Ka Naam Hai" a copy of the famous American radio and TV programme of the fifties?
A Rs 20 lakh damage suit against the New Delhi Television (NDTV) and Zee Telefilms by a California production company in the Delhi High Court has claimed so.
The California company "This Is Your Life (TIYL)", whose radio programme under the same title made a debut on radio in USA in 1950 and converted into a TV programme in 1952, has alleged that NDTV's programme - Jeena Isi Ka Naam Hai (JIKNH) telecast by Zee - is the copy of the same.
Justice R C Chopra has issued notices to the NDTV and the Zee on the suit filed by the California company and asked them to submit their replies by December 12.
Accusing NDTV and Zee of copyright, trademarks and intellectual property rights violations, the TIYL alleged the show on Indian TV "combines a number of distinctive and original elements of its worldwide popular progamme, which was hosted by noted radio and TV personalty Ralph Edwards.
The programme on Zee TV, hosted by Bollywood actor Farooq Sheikh, has been inviting politicians, sportspersons, film personalities businessmen, professionals, authors, artists and others who had made a mark for themselves and traces their personal and professional lives.
Prominent among those who so far had featured in the programme include former Prime Minister V P Singh, cricketers Kapil Dev, Saurav Ganguly, Infosys chief N R Narayan Murthy, Bollywood stars Shah Rukh Khan, Amir Khan, Anil Kapoor, actresses Madhuri Dikshit, Kareena Kapoor and Shilpa Shetty and scores of others.
The California company, which said its programme "This Is Your Life" had been aired and broadcast in numerous countries including the UK, New Zealand, Australia for several seasons and its presenter Ralph Edward won several awards, was vested with the intellectual property rights along with the host.
The other countries where its ownership rights extend incude Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Hong Kong and China, the US company's counsel Manmohan Singh in a complaint said.
Besides, the programme was branded as one of the "defining" TV programme of the 1950s, he said.
Pointing out a series of similarties between the two programmes, he alleged the fundamental features in which a celeberity is subjected to intense questioning on his life, which unfolds through family members, friends, colleagues and other guests who have close relations with him or her, were the same as in the TIYL.
The US company has listed 15 similarites in format of "Jeena Isi Ka Naam Hai" and "This Is Your Life" and its counsel said the plaintiff "is subject of copyright protection as it is registered under US Copyright Registration rules."
This entiled the company to have the worldwide ownership rights of its programme as "its trademark have come to be associated exculusively with the TIYL," its counsel claimed.
Besides, the company has licensed the format and title of the TIYL in many countries around the world including, India, UK, Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, France, Spain, Italy and Germany.
The licensed versions were presently produced and telecast in Engaland, Australia and New Zealand, while the original show is rerun by TV channels in US, it said.
