Humayun Ahmed's Family Sends Legal Notice to Grameenphone

Humayun Ahmed's family has served Grameenphone with a legal notification for infringing on his intellectual property rights by commercially exploiting his four popular drama characters without his authorization.

Baker Bhai from Kothao Keu Nei, Elachi Begum from Ayomoy, Sobhan Saheb from Bohubrihi, and Taiyab Ali from Ure Jay Bok Pokkhi are among the characters.

Barrister Hamidul Mizbah sent a legal notice to Grameenphone on behalf of Humayun Ahmed's wife Meher Afroz Shaon, daughter Nova Ahmed, Sheela Ahmed, Bipasha Ahmed, son Nuhash Humayun and brother Zafar Iqbal.

Grameenphone has been given three days to remove the incidents and 15 days to provide the financial compensation to the members, according to the legal notice. Otherwise, the matter will be taken to court, according to the late author's heirs.

According to reports, in July 2020, the mobile phone operator firm started a series of promotional campaigns titled "Kemon Achen Tara," which were released and aired on the company's Facebook page and YouTube channel.

Humayun Ahmed's family members or heirs gave Grameenphone no permission or license to use the aforementioned characters in the program, which has received over three million views on social media.

Grameenphone's failure to comply with the requirements for this sort of use resulted in a breach of intellectual property law.

Meher Afroz Shaon, wife of the late author, said, "Among the many characters created by Humayun Ahmed, the characters of Baker Bhai, Elachi Begum, Sobhan Saheb, and Taiyab Ali are very popular and well-known which are still in the hearts of the viewers. Unauthorised and commercial use of all these characters is a clear violation of Humayun Ahmed's intellectual property rights and is in no way desirable."

"In order to protect the intellectual property of Humayun Ahmed, his family members will always do their best and rely on the existing law to do whatever is necessary," she added.