Mysore: The first-ever judicial trial in the country through video-conference commenced in a city court on April 8 with one of the witnesses in a copyright infringement case deposing from Los Angeles in the United States.

The trial began at 09:00 hours (IST) with the principal district and sessions judge G N Hegde hearing the case filed by Veda Nayak, promoter of the Mysore-based NRI Film Productions Ltd, against Hollywood firm 20th Century Fox.

Preparations by the technicians from Total Presentation Devices and Mahendra Associates for the video trial commenced at 07:00 hours with the ISDN lines provided by Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL).

Nayak had alleged in his petition that 20th Century Fox had infringed the Copyright Act provisions by producing the Hollywood blockbuster 'Independence Day' based on his film script "Extra-Terrestrial Mission (ETM)".

The trial was disrupted for a few minutes at 11:00 hours due to a power cut and there were technical hitches in displaying the video image of the witness Dean Devlin on the large screen erected inside the court.

Hegde heard in rapt attention the questions posed by Veda Nayak and the objections raised by the defendants.

This is the first legal trial to be held through video-conference after a recent Supreme Court ruling that evidence in criminal trials in the country could be recorded through video-conference.

A test video-conference connecting the court to the United States was successfully held on April 5.

Authorities took advantage of the 10-hour time difference between Los Angeles and Mysore for the video trial on April 8.

The court took the decision of adopting the modern technology for the trial after the witness pleaded inability to come to India.

PTI