Wildlife docu releases on Jan 17, but forest dept twitter handle has free link

Ahead of the official release of ‘Wild Karnataka’ — the first-ever wildlife documentary on the commercial platform on Friday, a tweet by the Forest department has left the film crew and wildlife enthusiasts puzzled.

Contrary to the promotional efforts by the film crew to get more audience for the film in theatres, the department, a couple of days before the release, has put up a link on its twitter handle urging people and students to watch the documentary and claimed that ‘all copyrights vest with the Forest department’. Defending the move, department officials further tweeted, “The Zoo Authority of Karnataka comes under the administrative control of the department and hence, permitted to upload the ‘Wild Karnataka’ in public interest.”

When many users questioned the department about its move, it replied to them by uploading a copy of the memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed between the department and the film promoters. The officials have also tagged Amoghavarsha, Kalyan Verma, the directors and Ricky Kej, the music composer.

Clarifying on the department’s stand, Shivaraj Singh, PCCF (Publicity&ICT) said, “As per Section 3.1 of the MoU, the parties agree that all copyright of the film shall vest with the Forest department and hence, screening the film commercially and releasing in theatres is against the MoU. Directors have not sought any permission from us to release the movie. If the film is screened in theatres, we shall consult the legal cell and take further decision.” He added that the department has informed PVR, where the documentary will be screened across India, about the violation of copyrights.

Amoghavarsha, one of the directors, said, “We are well within the MoU terms. Legal aspects of releasing the movie on the big screen have also been mentioned in Section 3.2 of the MoU, which states the copyrights of the remaining raw footage will be co-owned by the department and contributors. The contributors are free to use, produce, publish, reproduce, broadcast, telecast, market and distribute the film in any part of the world.”

A former PCCF said, “The film’s release on the department website might have an impact on the funds towards conservation as it was expected to use the profit from the film on conservation activities. But either party is not breaking the law.”