Warner Bros Hypocritically Files Copyright Lawsuit

Stars of the "Harry Potter" movies

Thieving Warner Bros got a dose of its own medicine and doesn't like it. An Indian movie company made a film entitled "Hari Puttar" which contains some similarities to its preexisting movie franchise "Harry Potter." The film titles sound alike and both films are about a boy living in England. In "Harry Potter" there is a "Professor Dumbledore." In "Hari Puttar" there is a "Professor Dhoonda."

Hari Puttar

I must say, that was a terrible attempt at ripping it off! Pardon me for a minute while I laugh...ok, I'm back now. However, the similarities end there and break into a rip off of Home Alone, about kids left to fend for themselves against burglars. Warner Bros has sued the makers of "Hari Puttar" for copyright infringement. 20th Century Fox, the makers of "Home Alone" have not commented on the similarities.

Home Alone

I find Warner's lawsuit quite hypocritical, as they routinely flout copyright law, yet expect other people to pay and desist when they do the same to them. Warner illegally stole the preexisting copyrights for the films The Matrix, The Island, Syriana and RockNRolla to name a few, then disgraced the U.S. judiciary via engaging in corruption, with acts that should not be named in any court system in any democracy. You lowered the bar and set the tone for thievery and now you're mad when it's done to you. Once again, Warner are hypocrites. You reap what you sow.

Warner should hope the Indian courts don't utilize the same kind of disgusting corruption they use on a regular basis to win cases U.S. and international law says they should lose. My verdict on all this? Copyright infringement is a crime, as prescribed by law. It is wrong no matter who does it or what country they are in, as international and domestic law strictly forbids it. Am I crying for Warner in this? Absolutely not. Why don't you guys do what your artist Madonna usually does, just bribe the judge (sarcasm). After all, who's watching to find out...oh, that's right, millions of people (smirk).

Hari Puttar? It's a wizard idea, but Hollywood claims it's a rip off.

One of Bollywood's most eagerly awaited films has been dragged into a fierce legal battle, amid allegations that it owes just a little too much to a certain boy wizard. The Bombay-based producer of Hari Puttar: A Comedy of Terrors is being sued by Warner Bros, the Hollywood studio behind the hugely successful Harry Potter franchise. Hari, the lawsuit alleges, is too close to J.K.Rowling's Harry for comfort.

The Hindi-language children's film, which was shot entirely on the Yorkshire Dales in 2006 and 2007 on a budget of £2 million, tells the story of Hari Prasad Dhoonda, a hapless ten-year-old Punjabi loner who is nicknamed Hari Puttar and moves to Britain.

The plot tells how Hari's father, Professor Dhoonda - and Warner's lawyers may have noted that their client's films feature a Professor Dumbledore - is assigned to work on a top-secret project for the Indian Army. His plans are kept on a computer chip hidden in the family's house.

A series of mishaps results in Hari, who possesses no magic powers, being left home alone when the family departs on holiday. It transpires that an infamous underworld don, Kali Mirchi, has assigned two bungling thugs to steal the secret chip. It is up to Hari to save the chip - and the world.

If the plot brings to mind another film involving a young boy left behind by his family who has to thwart a couple of crooks - Home Alone, the 1990 hit staring Macaulay Culkin - it probably isn't bothering the Indians, who are dismissing claims of plagiarism.

The case will pit one of India's biggest media companies against some of Hollywood's fiercest lawyers. Mirchi Movies is owned by Bennett & Coleman, the privately owned company that publishes The Times of India. The company is valued at up to $25 billion (£13.5 billion). Warner Bros, owned by Time Warner, grossed about $3.4 billion last year from its films.

http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk