The Copyright Dispute between Maula Jatt (1979) and The Legend of Maula Jatt (2022)

Abstract

Comparison between The Legend of Maula Jatt (2022) a blockbuster re-release of the 1979 Punjabi cult film Maula Jatt provides insight into the issues of the IP regime in Pakistan in relation to remakes, protectability of characters, the division between literary and cinematographic rights, and informal industry traditions. It ran between 2017 and 2020, opposing the original producer of the 1979 film (Muhammad Sarwar Bhatti of Bahoo Films) and his heirs with the original screenwriter, Nasir Adeeb, on the side of the 2022 reboot. The fight revealed a loophole in the Copyright Ordinance, 1962 of Pakistan especially the interaction between the family of original producer Sarwar Bhatti, claiming rights in the 1979 cinematographic (film-specific) work and the trademarks around it; and original writer Nasir Adeeb, claiming underlying literary (script, character, story) rights in the characters and the story vested in authors. In this paper, the paper will follow the origins of the conflict in the folkloric Punjabi archetypes, the escalation of the conflict to IPO tribunals, high courts, the key moment of the distribution of the rights assignment to the screenwriter Nasir Adeeb, the out-of-court settlement of 2020, and its implications to the creative industries. The given paper advances the thesis that the modernization of legislation is needed to create a level of balance between the rights of the author, motivation to produce, and preservation of culture in the context of an even more globalized Pakistani cinema. The eventual out-of-court settlement left core legal questions unresolved, highlighting urgent needs for legislative clarity, industry reform, and transnational IP cooperation mechanisms.