Warner Brothers, which owns the rights in the Harry Potter motion pictures, unsuccessfully tried to block release of the Bollywood film, Hari Puttar: A Comedy of Terrors. While Warner Brothers succeeded in delaying the originally planned September 12, 2008 release in India, a New Delhi court ultimately dismissed the lawsuit.
Even though the Hari Puttar lawsuit was decided under Indian law, the case provides a good excuse for me to discuss selecting titles for your films and television programs. Your title can raise objections from a producer with a similarly titled media production or from a trademark owner whose trademark finds itself in your title.
Giving a title to a media production is a form of expression. As a result, in the United States, titles receive great protection under the First Amendment. If the title has at least some artistic relevance to the production and the title is not explicitly misleading as to the content of your film, it will be difficult for someone else to prevent your using your selected title. Anyone objecting must show that your title is similar to their title or trademark and that your title is likely to cause consumer confusion. Confusion exists if consumers mistakenly believe that your production is associated with the other person’s production, product, or service.
In the case of Hari Puttar, the title is significant to the theme of the movie. The producers explain that Hari is a popular Indian name and that Puttar means "son" in the Punjabi language. The Indian court did not think that the title Hari Puttar was confusing with the title Harry Potter.
In addition, the court found no substantial similarity between the plots of Hari Puttar and the Harry Potter movies. Hari Puttar is a music-based movie about a young boy who moves to London with his parents and thwarts the attempts of two criminals to steal a secret formula. Its subject matter is actually more similar to Home Alone than it is to any of the Harry Potter stories.
It also did not help Warner Brothers’ case that Warner has been aware of the Hari Puttar title since 2005 and filed a legal objection only weeks before the scheduled opening.
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