1. The plaintiff whose suit for damages for infringement of copy right and other incidental reliefs was dismissed by the lower court is the appellant. A Malayalam cinematograph film by name "Collector Malathy" (hereinafter referred to as the film) was released on 14-9-1967 in various centres in Kerala. The first defendant wrote the screen play and dialogue, the second defendant produced the film and it was distributed in Kerala by the third defendant. The plaintiff alleged that this film is a bare adaptation of the central theme, plot and sub-plots of a Malayalam Drama by name "Sarala Vijayam" written by him in 1948, published in 1952 and distributed through leading bookstalls. Therefore the plaintiff alleges that the defendants have infringed his copy right in the drama. All the defendants resist the suit, but the main contesting defendant is the first defendant. Among other contentions his two main contentions were that the suit is barred by limitation and that there is no infringement of the plaintiff's copyright as alleged by the plaintiff. The plot of the story was supplied by the second defendant and the first defendant wrote the screen-play and the dialogue for t