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Priyanka   21 November 2023

Biopic rights contract doesn’t have an end date

Hi all, 

A small director/ producer has misled my friend and signed a biopic contract of her story which has no due date or rather any date. My friend is a naive lady who has become celebrity now so she wasn't aware of all these things while signing the contract. It's been 5 years now, there's no update on the movie. We have many better options from famous producers and directors now but due to this contract we can't take any. 
Does the contract gets void in 3 years if there's no due date? Can any lawyer help please?



Learning

 4 Replies

T. Kalaiselvan, Advocate (Advocate)     22 November 2023

The Limitation Act, 1963 provides for different limitation periods for different kinds of claims, however for matters falling under Indian Contract Act, the limitation period is for three years.

However, the limitation period can be revised or extended under certain circumstances. Section 17 of the Limitation Act, 1963 provides for the extension of the limitation period in case of fraud, mistake or concealment of facts. . In such cases, the limitation period will be extended until the affected party  discovers the fraud, mistake or concealment of facts.

Aadil (Student)     08 June 2024

Dear Priyanka,

Thank you for your query! I am Aadil and I will try to answer your question.

 

The short answer to your question is 5 years, unless an agreement states otherwise.

As the meaning of the word ‘biopic contract’ is unclear, it shall be assumed to mean the assignment of the copyright.

Copyright laws in India are discussed in the Copyright Act of 1957. It defines a copyright in its section 14 as the exclusive right to do or authorise to do any act like reproducing, copying, performing, translating, adapting, etc., of any literary, dramatic, musical, or literary work, or even a computer programme. As per section 17 of the same act, the first owner of the copyright of a literary, dramatic, artistic, or musical work shall be the author of the work, unless said work was created during the course of employment in a publishing company for the purposes of the publishing company, in which case the rights shall lie with the said company.

The owner of the copyright possesses the right to assign this copyright to anyone, for a particular term and subject to limitations, or for the whole term of the copyright and without any limits, and can be given wholly or partially. This assignment must be given in writing and should be signed by the assignor or his agent. As per section 19(5) of the Copyright Act, if the period of assignment is not stated, it will be assumed to be five years from the date of assignment.

I hope this helps. Thank you for your time and patience!

 

Regards,

Aadil

P. Venu (Advocate)     20 June 2024

Any meaningfu suggestion requires that contract agreement be perused and finer aspects discussed.

Advocate/CS Sanjeev Kataria ( Advocate)     13 August 2024

Dear friend, your friend is a celebrity now, why you are seeking free legal advice on her behalf. This forum is not meant for this purpose, let your celebrity friend bear expenses for lawyer advice, after all we are also part of this society, hamara ghar bhi to chalana hai, I hope you will not mind it


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