Author loses India TV appeal

Bradford plans to continue her copyright battle

India's highest court has rejected an appeal by British author Barbara Taylor Bradford to stop a TV series she believes plagiarises her best-selling novel A Woman of Substance.

The Supreme Court dismissed Bradford's petition to get the mega-serial Karishma: Miracle of Destiny pulled from screens after it was given the green light last month.

But the court did waive the damages and legal costs imposed on her at the earlier hearing in the High Court.

In July, two judges ruled that the 260-episode TV series, made by Sahara Media Entertainment, had not breached her copyright.

Because Bradford had earlier won a temporary injunction to stop the series airing, the High Court had ordered she pay 150,000 rupees (£2,031) for every week her court challenge had delayed it.

Continuing appeal

She was also asked to pay 10,000 rupees (£135) in costs for each day of the trial court proceedings.

But the Supreme Court said the High Court had been wrong to impose the fine at that stage.

Bradford's lawyer Som Mandal said the author would still pursue her main suit against the TV channel, alleging infringement of copyright.

The series is the most expensive in the history of Indian TV and stars Bollywood actress Karishma Kapoor.

Two senior judges earlier said they had read a summary of Bradford's novel and found no evidence to suggest that Sahara had used her ideas to develop Miracle of Destiny.

Bradford has published 18 novels and sold more than 70 million copies around the world.