Palaniswamy, J.- The defendants in O. S. No. 9 of 1962 on the file of the District Judge, west Thanjavur, are the appellants. The plaintiff respondent instituted the suit for an injunction restraining the defendants firm reprinting a Tamil drama called “ Kalangarai Deivam” in any form and for recovery of Rs. 14,000 as damages and for certain other reliefs. He claimed to have registered under the Copyrights Act, 1957 (Central Act XIV of 1957) his Tamil novel “Maruthiyin Kathal.” He contended that the first defendant adopting the theme, characterisation, narration and development of the story as found in “Maruthiyin Kathal” wrote under the caption “ Kalangarai Deivam” in the form of a drama, which was published in series in Ananda Vikatan, a weekly Tamil magazine of which the Editor and Publisher was the second defendant. The substance of his complaint was that the defendants committed infringement of his copyright and prayed for the reliefs indicated above. The defendants denied the plaintiff’s claim contending inter alia that there were vital differences in matters of theme, characterisation etc. between the plaintiff’s novel and the first defendant’s drama and that the plaintiff w

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