Qazi Anwar not writer of 260 books of 'Masud Rana'

The High Court on Monday rejected the writ petition of Qazi Anwar Hossain, owner of Seba Prokashoni, claiming the copyright of 260 books of popular thriller series 'Masud Rana', reports UNB.

The court also said copyright of 50 books of 'Kuasha' series would remain seized.

The HC bench of Justice Md Ashfaqul Islam and Md Iqbal Kabir passed the order on Monday.

Barrister ABM Hamidul Misbah represented the petitioner, while Khurshid Alam Khan and Iftabul Kamal Ayan appeared for the copyright office.

On July 29, 2019, author Sheikh Abdul Hakim submitted a complaint against Qazi Anwar Hossain for violating section 71 and 89 of the Copyright Act by depriving him of the author rights of those books of Masud Rana and Kuasha series.

On June 14, 2020, the copyright office passed its decision in favour of Sheikh Abdul Hakim.

Jafar Raza Chowdhury, registrar of the Copyright Office Bangladesh, said Sheikh Abdul Hakim was given author rights only in one book of the Masud Rana series and six of Kuasha series, but he had proved his authorship for the remaining ones.

"Sheikh Abdul Hakim will have to separately appeal for each book for the author rights and copyright," he said.

The copyright office in its order directed the defence to stop publication and commercial use of the claimed and enlisted books until further order of court or the copyright board.

It also directed the defence to submit the statement of account of the sold books, number of sold books and the number of editions of the books that had registered copyright, to the petitioner within 30 days.

Qazi Anwar Hossain later filed a writ challenging the order of the copyright office.

On September 10, 2020, the High Court stayed the decision of the copyright office for one month.

The court asked the cultural affairs secretary, Copyright Office Bangladesh, and registrar of the Copyright and Copyright Board to explain why the copyright office's June 14 decision should not be declared illegal.

Unfortunately, on August 29 this year, Sheikh Abdul Hakim, ghost-writer of the popular spy thriller series 'Masud Rana', passed away at the age of 75, after losing his long battle with bronchitis.