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| Friday, 26 March 2004 |
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Prof. Sarachchandra's wife seeks Rs. 40m from tutor of Maname by Sandasen Marasinghe Colombo Commercial High Court Judge K. T. Chithrasiri issued an enjoining order on Tuesday, refraining tutor and novelist Upul Shantha Sannasgala from publishing and distributing the Maname Course Work Book including the Maname Drama by the late Professor Ediriweera Sarachchandra. The Judge also issued notice on him to appear before Court on April 1. Prof. Ediriweera Sarachchandra's wife, Lalitha filed a petition before the Colombo Commercial High Court against Sannasgala saying he has infringed her rights by an unauthorised publication of the Maname drama written by her late husband. The petition filed through Relapanawa Associates states that the right of the works of Prof. Sarachchandra has been conferred to the petitioner by his last will. But the defendant has published the Maname Course Work Book for Advanced Level students which contains the Maname Drama by Prof. Sarachchandra without her permission and distributed among students of his tuition classes under the name of Ape Sinhala Panthiya (Our Sinhala Class) throughout Sri Lanka. The petitioner says the Course Book published by the defendant has a distorted cover page with an unsuitable picture of a woman. The defendant's name has been printed on the first page and Prof. Sarachchandra's name on the second page. The last page of the Maname Course Work Book contains the line "all rights reserved, copy right 1999 Upul Shantha Sannasgala." She noted that the Maname Course Book has been published by the Sanghinda Publishers in 2001 and printed at the Sanghinda Press both owned by the defendant. The petitioner says the defendant has attempted to confer the authorship of the Maname Drama, to himself by this action and has violated the Intellectual Property Act. Her rights also have been infringed under the same Act and the defendant has gained an unjust enrichment through this action. Lalitha Sarachchandra prayed for a declaration that the rights of the Maname drama is owned by the petitioner after the demise of Prof. Sarachchandra and the defendant had no right to publish and distribute them without her consent. She prayed for compensation in Rs. 20 million for the violation of her rights under the Intellectual Property Act and to declare that the defendant gained an unjust enrichment and thereby requested Court to order Sannasgala to pay her another Rs. 20 million as damages. |
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