Sunburn gives Viacom 18 a heartburn

Court directs Viacom 18 to apply afresh after allegations of stealing trade secrets
TEAM HERALD
teamherald@herald-goa.com
PANJIM: Percept Pvt Ltd, the organizers of electronic dance music (EDM) festival, Sunburn, has given its competitor ~ Viacom 18, the organizers of Supersonic ~ a heartburn, as the High Court in Mumbai, has directed Viacom 18 to apply afresh for a permission from the State Level Event Permission Committee leaving out certain aspects which Percept alleged were stolen at the time of the presentation, by Viacom for hosting the mega EDM this December.
The organizers of Sunburn had moved the court in Mumbai submitting that Viacom 18 had stolen certain trade secrets from its presentation made before the SLEP committee in October.
The court has ruled Monday that Viacom 18 should file a fresh application for holding its Supersonic music festival between December 26 and 30 at Candolim beach without using the literary and artistic work contained in the presentation of Percept.
The court has directed the SLEPC to consider the application filed afresh by Viacom 18 within four days of the receipt of the application.
The court has further ruled that Viacom 18 shall be entitled to organize its event only upon permission being granted by the SLEPC without using the literary and artistic work contained in the original presentation of Percept.
While the complainants, Percept Pvt Ltd, were upbeat Monday evening, sources from the defendant’s camp continued to rubbish allegations of theft and claimed that this new development would not impact its EDM festival in any way.
A senior official in the tourism ministry said that Viacom 18 will have to submit a fresh application for before the SLEPC and it would process the same accordingly.
The Tourism Department officials disclosed that the court has not granted any stay on the EDM at Candolim even as the buzz on Monday evening was that the permission granted for an electronic dance music festival by Viacom 18 had been cancelled.
Viacom 18 has reported huge sale of tickets within three days and has ruled out any cancellation of its event scheduled at Candolim.
It may be recalled, that Percept Pvt Ltd had filed a police complaint against Viacom 18 on the same issue at Porvorim police station and thereafter moved the case to Mumbai High Court.
The director of tourism was also asked to submit his say in the matter during the hearing in court and the case has accordingly been disposed off Monday.