Supreme Court upholds Rs.1 Mn copyright damages award to Tilvin Silva

By Lakmal Sooriyagoda   

The Supreme Court has dismissed an appeal filed by former Parliamentarian Wimal Weerawansa, thereby upholding a High Court judgment awarding Rs. 1 million in statutory damages to Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) General Secretary Tilvin Silva over a copyright infringement dispute.  
With the dismissal of the appeal, the apex court affirmed the High Court’s finding that Weerawansa had infringed Silva’s copyright by reproducing the book Neththa Venuwata Aththa without authorization.  
However, the Supreme Court varied the permanent injunction issued by the High Court, ruling that it should apply only to the copyrighted documents in dispute and not to the entirety of Weerawansa’s publication.  
A three-judge bench comprising Justices Dr. Sobhitha Rajakaruna, Janak De Silva and Sampath Wijeratne delivered the judgment, with Justice Rajakaruna writing the unanimous decision.  
The dispute related to two unpublished documents prepared by Tilvin Silva for discussions before the Central Committee of the JVP in the run-up to the 2005 Presidential Election. Tilvin Silva maintained that the documents contained his original political analyses and recommendations and alleged that Weerawansa reproduced them in full in his book titled Neththa Venuwata Aththa without obtaining his consent.   
The Supreme Court upheld the High Court’s finding that the documents constituted original literary works protected under the Intellectual Property Act. The Court held that copyright protects the original expression of ideas rather than the ideas themselves and found that Silva’s writings reflected sufficient intellectual effort, judgment and analytical skill to qualify for copyright protection. 
Nishan S. Premathiratne with Sidath Gajanayake, Manith Dasanayake, Kaushalya Wickramanayake and Gamindu Karunasena appeared for the Defendant-Appellant.  
Saliya Pieris, PC with Anjana Rathnasiri and Dinithi Jayasinghe appeared for the Plaintiff-Respondents.