Pak designer accused of "copying" Indian jeweller`s works

Islamabad, Aug 10 (PTI) A high-profile Pakistani jewellery
designer has been accused of stealing the designs of Indian
designer Farah Khan, who is Bollywood star Hrithik Roshan's
sister-in-law.

Sara Taseer Shoaib, daughter of Punjab Governor Salman
Taseer, has been accused of plagiarising the designs of
Mumbai-based Khan, who creates jewellery for celebrities, and
posting them on Facebook.

"When I visited Facebook, I was shocked. I couldn't
believe how someone could be so stupid to plagiarise designs
so openly; especially in today's world where we live in the
age of the internet and accessibility to information is only
one click away, Farah told a Pakistani magazine.

"I gathered information about (Shoaib's) shop in Lahore
and got her mobile number in Hong Kong, where I called her. I
told her that she would be receiving a legal notice from me
for plagiarising my work as my designs were copyrighted," she
said.

Farah said Sara got very flustered and insisted on calling
her back to make sure it was not a crank call. When Sara
called her back, she denied the allegation and said "this was
the job of some hackers." Sara also claimed "there were many
people who disliked her as she came from a powerful political
family in Pakistan."

Farah asked Sara to issue a statement to the press saying
that the designs were Farah's. Sara said her father owned a
newspaper in Pakistan and that she would speak to the editor
and get back on issuing a "common draft", Farah said.

Sara later called Farah to say it was just an "an
unfortunate incident". She asked Farah to add to a draft
statement she had prepared so that the newspaper's editor
could reword and print it.

"I told her that her words sounded more political than a
designer talking about plagiarisation, and that my lawyer had
advised me to ask her to clarify her stand as well as asked me
to approach the Pakistani and Indian media to put things on
record," Farah said.

Farah said her designs were copyrighted and she would
consider taking the matter to court. "If pushed, I shall sue
her for plagiarisation of designs, theft of intellectual
property and causing disrepute to an established brand and
designer," she said.

Meanwhile, Sara has denied the allegation. She said she
had changed her Facebook page's settings to disallow people
from posting images there. Sara also claimed that a Pakistani
website that had alerted the Indian designer to the
plagiarisation had been "stalking" her for some time.

However, this isn't the first time that Sara has been
accused of plagiarism. The June issue of Xpoze magazine had
images of logos from Sara's website and that of Indian
jewellery designer Alpana Gujral, pointing to "similarities".

Sara's father was once married to Indian journalist
Tavleen Singh. Their son Aatish Taseer recently released his
controversial first novel 'A Stranger To History' in which he
described his troubled relationship with his father. PTI