Somasekaram v. Lanka Bell (Pvt.) Ltd – sllr 2008 volume 1 page 009

In the case between Somasekaram (Plaintiff/Appellant) and Lanka Bell (Pvt.) Ltd. (Defendant/Respondent), the court addressed the issue of whether the A–Z street guide map produced by the appellant—based on the Surveyor General’s map—constituted an original work eligible for copyright protection under the Code of Intellectual Property Act No. 52 of 1979. It was held that the modifications introduced by the appellant did not amount to sufficient originality or creativity to render the resultant map a new copyrightable work, and that the copyright remained vested in the Surveyor General. The decision reaffirmed the principle that derivative works must display substantive independent creativity, and mere alterations or additions to an existing work do not create a separate copyright. Reliance