HARRY POTTER - COURT RULES AGAINST WARNER BROS IN HARI PUTTAR LAWSUIT

An Indian court has ruled in favour of a Bollywood film company over a film entitled Hari Puttar - A Comedy of Terrors.

Hollywood studio Warner Bros had sued Mirchi Movies, claiming the film's name was too similar to that of the Harry Potter franchise.

And while the legal wranglings had caused the postponement of the Hari Puttar release, a Delhi court has now rejected the Warner Bros lawsuit.

Mirchi Movies stressed that their film had no connection to JK Rowling's tales of the teenage wizard and explained that Puttar means "son" in Hindi and Punjabi.

And the Delhi high court ruled that readers would have no difficulty distinguishing between Hari Puttar and the Harry Potter series of books.

"The case has been dismissed," Mirchi Movies' lawyer Pratibha Singh was quoted by the AFP news agency as saying.

"The court said that Warner Bros had known the title of the film since 2005 and had delayed bringing the case to court until the last moment."

Hari Puttar - A Comedy of Terrors, tells of a ten-year-old boy who moves to England with his parents and becomes involved in a plot concerning a secret microchip.

It was set for a September 12th release in India and will now hit the screen on September 26th.

Warner Bros, meanwhile, recently confirmed that the release of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, the sixth film in the franchise, has been delayed by eight months until July 2009.

The movie will now spearhead Warner Bros' lineup of summer films.