Sahara Media Entertainment Ltd may be able to telecast its mega teleserial Karishma - A miracle of destiny after a single judge of the Calcutta High Court lifted the stay which barred Sahara from telecasting the serial from May 12.
However, justice M H S Ansari, in response to a plea by the US-based novelist Barbara Taylor Bradford, stayed the operation of his own order for seven days to enable Barbara to move a higher court against lifting of the stay.
The stay order followed a copyright infringement suit filed by Bradford alleging that the serial was made on the basis of her novel A Woman of Substance.
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Justice Ansari directed Sahara to furnish a bank guarantee of Rs 25 lakh with the registrar of the Calcutta High Court as security within 4 weeks.
In the order, the judge upheld the argument of the Sahara counsel that there was no copyright of the theme. The court also upheld Sahara's plea that "balance of convenience should be go in favour of Sahara as it is a multi-crore project". Over Rs 100 crore was involved with the serial and if the stay order continued, the company would suffer financially.
The judge held the infringement of the copyright would be decided at the hearing of the main suit, but at this stage the ad-interim order should not be allowed to continue.
Bradford, a resident of Manhattan, New York, filed the suit on May 7, alleging that the serial was based on her bestseller novel 'A Woman of Substance' without her permission.
A single judge passed the ad-interim order restraining Sahara from telecasting the serial and appointed joint special officers to make inventory of materials already shot for serial.
Sahara preferred to appeal against the order on May 12 and a division bench vacated the injunction order, but Barbara obtained another stay order from the Supreme Court.
The apex court later remanded the hearing of the case to the Calcutta High Court.