Culture

Bollywood's 'Hari Puttar' Wins 'Harry Potter' Lawsuit

by Jarrett Martineau | September 23, 2008 at 10:51 am

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Could this be the first time that a product associated with JK Rowling's 'Harry Potter' global megabrand, even by name only, is allowed to exist without fear of a legal lockdown?

This week an Indian court allowed the release of the Indian film, 'Hari Puttar', to go ahead, despite concerns by Warner Bros. that the movie would "confuse consumers and benefit from the well-known and well-loved Harry Potter brand."

'Hari Puttar' will be released in India this Friday and globally in October.

Move over Harry Potter. Make way for Hari Puttar.

"Hari Puttar" is set to hit cinema screens this week after an Indian court rejected a Warner Bros. lawsuit claiming the name was too close to its Harry Potter series.

The court said in its ruling Monday that people who have watched the Harry Potter movies and read the books would know the difference between that and an Indian Punjabi film called "Hari Puttar — A Comedy of Terrors."

The producers, Mirchi Movies, said the Puttar movie bore no resemblance to the famous boy wizard franchise. Hari is a common name in India and Hindi for God, while "puttar" is Punjabi for son.

"It's clearly great to have won this case," Munish Purii, Mirchi's chief executive told The Associated Press on Tuesday. "We are hoping for a good release although the timing of the Warner case distracted us from marketing."