The Supreme Court has dismissed an appeal filed by former Parliamentarian Wimal Weerawansa, upholding a High Court ruling that he infringed the copyright of Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) General Secretary Tilvin Silva by reproducing material in his book 'Neththa Venuwata Aththa'.
However, the apex court varied the permanent injunction issued by the High Court, ruling that it should apply only to the copyrighted documents in dispute rather than the entirety of Weerawansa's publication.
The judgment was delivered unanimously by a three-judge bench comprising Justices Dr. Sobhitha Rajakaruna, Janak De Silva and Sampath Wijeratne, with Justice Rajakaruna authoring the decision.
The case centred on two unpublished documents prepared by Silva for discussions before the JVP Central Committee in the lead-up to the 2005 Presidential Election. Silva argued that the documents contained his original political analyses and recommendations and alleged that Weerawansa reproduced them in full in Neththa Venuwata Aththa without his permission.
Upholding the High Court's findings, the Supreme Court ruled that the documents constituted original literary works protected under the Intellectual Property Act. The Court observed that copyright law protects the original expression of ideas rather than the ideas themselves, and found that Silva's writings demonstrated sufficient intellectual effort, judgment and analytical skill to qualify for copyright protection.
