Humayun Ahmed's family send legal notice to Grameenphone over IP infringement

The family of Humayun Ahmed have demanded Tk 30 million from mobile operator Grameenphone for infringing intellectual property rights by using without permission 'four beloved characters' from four popular television series written by the acclaimed author.

A legal notice has been sent to the telecommunications giant on behalf of the writer's widow Meher Afroz Shaon, daughters Nova Ahmed, Sheela Ahmed, Bipasha Ahmed, son Nuhash Humayun and brother Md Zafar Iqbal by lawyer Hamidul Mesbah.

After sending the notice by email on Monday, it was sent to the registry again on Tuesday, the lawyer said.

Grameenphone has said it received the notice and removed the disputed content from social media.

In July last year, Grameenphone launched a series of commercials titled 'Kemon Achen Tara?' (How are they?) on its Facebook page and YouTube channel.

The notice states that Grameenphone, the country's top mobile operator, used the characters of 'Baker Bhai' from the television drama 'Kothao Keu Nei', 'Elachi Begum' from Ayom, 'Sobhan Saheb' from Bahubrihi, and 'Taiyyab Ali' from 'Ure Jay Bok Pokkhi' in its series without the consent of the copyright owners, in this case, Humayun Ahmed's family members.

The episodes featuring the four characters have been viewed more than 3 million times, according to the notice.

Grameenphone did not seek the family's consent despite being legally obligated to do so.

Lawyer Mesbah said the family have asked for the removal of the episodes featuring the characters from Grameenphone's Facebook page and YouTube channel within three days along with a compensation of Tk 31.5 million in 15 days for patent infringement.

Grameenphone has since taken down the videos from its Facebook page.

Addressing the matter, Shaon said, "Among the many characters created by Humayun Ahmed, these four are particularly popular with audiences. These characters are still ingrained in the hearts of the audience."

"The unauthorised, commercial use of all these characters is a clear violation of Humayun Ahmed's intellectual property rights and is in no way desirable."

Grameenphone's Head of External Communications Md Hasan said the company has recently received the legal notice issued by Humayun's family members.

"The content of the notice relates to a full-length radio show and is essentially an abbreviated social media content produced by Radio Shadhin."

"Grameenphone is reviewing the notice and has already removed the content from its social media channels out of respect to the late author's family members. Grameenphone sincerely respects the contributions of the legendary author and the views and feelings of his family members. ”