The Delhi High Court on Monday served notices to streaming platform Netflix and the producers of its show IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack on a plea by Asian News International alleging trademark infringement and copyright violations, reported Bar and Bench.

Matchbox Shots and Benaras Mediaworks, the producers, in addition to Netflix, were directed to respond to ANI’s petition in two days. The matter is scheduled to be heard on Friday.

The news agency told the court that the show used its footage of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Pakistan’s former President Pervez Musharaff and militant Masood Azhar without licence.

ANI’s lawyer told the court that the show’s producers had approached the news agency with a request to use the footage in 2021 but no formal agreement had been reached in the matter.

“This show is not only controversial but anti-national and unpatriotic in the eyes of the public,” ANI’s counsel argued. “I do not want to be associated with them… Four out of the six episodes use my footages extensively. I engaged a cameraperson in Pakistan who possibly has the only shot of Masood Azhar being released in Pakistan.”

ANI also contended that in one instance on the show, its logo is visible, which amounts to trademark infringement. The news agency asked that the four episodes allegedly featuring its footage be taken down.

Directed by Anubhav Sinha, the limited series was released on Netflix on August 29. The show is based on the commandeering of an Indian Airlines aircraft from Kathmandu to Delhi on December 24, 1999, by members of a Pakistan-based terror outfit. Five terrorists hijacked the plane and eventually landed it in Kandahar in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan.

The standoff – during which a passenger died – ended on December 30, 1999, after the Bharatiya Janata Party government led by Vajpayee freed three jailed terrorists.

They included Azhar, whose outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed attacked the Indian Parliament in 2001, and Omar Saaed Shaikh, accused of beheading American journalist Daniel Pearl in 2002.

ANI also told the High Court that it did not wish to be associated with a show that it claims exonerates Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence for its role in the hijacking, according to Bar and Bench.

The show’s producers rejected ANI’s allegation that its footage was used in violation of copyright law.

One of the producer’s lawyers said the footage was obtained through third-party companies for Rs 1.7 crore. The footage had been shared with the companies by Reuters, which is a shareholder in ANI, the lawyer said.

Netflix’s counsel also told the court that the show made it amply clear that the hijacking of the flight was orchestrated by Pakistan’s intelligence agency.

Also read: ‘IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack’ review: A tribute to uncommon courage in impossible conditions