HC dismisses Netflix’ plea against actor Dhanush in copyright case

Chennai, PTI: The Madras High Court on Tuesday dismissed an application filed by Los Gatos, an Indian entity of OTT platform Netflix, which sought to reject actor Dhanush’s plaint over alleged copyright infringement by wellknown actor Nayanthara, her husband Vignesh Sivan and others, at the preliminary stage itself. Justice Abdul Quddhose dismissed the application filed by Los Gatos and posted to February 5, further hearing of the application filed by Dhanush’s production house Wunderbar, seeking interim injunction against Los Gatos and others.

In his application, Dhanush had submitted he produced a Tamil film “Naanum Rowdy Daan” a few years ago. Some of the behind-the-scene footage from the film were used unauthorizedly in the making of Nayanthara’s documentary “Nayanthara: Beyond the Fairytale”, he alleged. The documentary was aired on Netflix.

Dhanush said that since Netflix’s office was in Mumbai, which was outside the jurisdiction of the Madras HC, he had moved an application seeking leave to sue the OTT player in this court, which was allowed. Aggrieved, Netflix filed the present application to revoke the order, granting leave to sue. Netflix contended that the plaintiff in this case had obtained leave to sue only Los Gatos and because the office outside the jurisdiction.