Kerala Court Orders Interim Restraint On Merchandising And Commercializing Superhero Minnal Murali, Other Characters From Movie

“This Court doth order that an interim injunction be awarded to restrain the defendants, their agents,, their representatives, or anyone acting on their behalf from infringing the plaintiff's copyright in 'Minnal Murali', Brucelee Biji, Josemon, PC Siby Pothan, SI Sajan, PC Shinoj, and Shibu, in any manner including but not limited to the production, distribution, and commercialisation of characters, graphic novels, merchandise, or spin-off films or exploitation of the same in any manner until further orders,” it said.

The suit was moved by Arun A R and Justin Mathew, who are the writers of the movie and creator of the superhero character. The movie is about a common man from a fictional village who attains superhero powers after being struck by lightning and fights against evil powers. The other popular characters in the movie include Brucelee Biji, Josemon, PC Siby Pothan, SI Sajan, PC Shinoj, and Shibu.

The respondents, in this case, include Weekend Blockbusters Pvt. Ltd. (production company), Netflix India (distributor), Amar Chitra Katha, Spirit Media Pvt Ltd, Producer Sophia Paul and others.

The allegation was that the respondents were trying to infringe the copyright of the writers by trying to make reference to characters similar to Minnal Murali. Recently, another Malayalam movie was announced with a reference to the superhero character Minnal Murali and his fictional village. It was also alleged that the production company has partnered with other media companies to commercialize Minnal Murali.

The matter has been posted to October 17, 2024.

Senior Advocate P B Krishnan appeared in the matter. The suit was moved by Advocates Georgie Johny, Anita Ann George. 

Case Number: OS 23/2024

Case Title: Arun AR & Anr v Weekend Blockbusters Pvt. Ltd. & Ors