Director Koratala Siva landed in a legal soup because of a copyright infringement case filed against him concerning the story of his film Srimanthudu. Writer Sarath Chandra aka RD Wilson filed a case against Koratala, producers Naveen Yerneni and Mahesh Babu, alleging that Srimanthudu’s story was copied from his writing, “Chachentha Prema.”
He requested the High Court to impose fraud and forgery cases against Srimanthudu’s makers. Meanwhile, Koratala, Mahesh Babu and Naveen Yerneni filed a counter-petition against Sarath Chandra in the High Court. Justice K Surender and the 8-member Writers Committee heard arguments from both sides, examined both stories and concluded that Srimanthudu was a copy of Chachentha Prema. However, the court dismissed cases against Naveen Yerneni and Mahesh Babu.
Koratala challenged the court’s decision and took the case to the Supreme Court. Senior lawyer and YCP MP Niranjan Reddy was Koratala’s defence lawyer. After examining the case, even the Supreme Court concluded it was copyright infringement and ordered an investigation against Koratala.
