23 Oct – Director and actor Syamsul Yusof has denied plagiarising 1995 Malay novel "Aku Bohsia", after author Elias Idris accused his 2009 movie "Bohsia: Jangan Pilih Jalan Hitam" of being a blatant rip-off of the latter's novel. Syamsul denied the allegations, explaining to the High Court earlier this week that the original idea and script for the movie were based on current issues. "The idea was obtained from issues found in the media and combined with my own creative imagination as a script writer, also from tales of typical city teens," said Syamsul, as quoted by Bernama. Plaintiff Elias has named Syamsul Yusof as first defendant, while producer Datuk Yusof Haslam is named as second defendant and Skop Production Sdn Bhd as the third defendant. Syamsul, represented by counsel Aizul Rohan Anuar, expressed his anger over the fact that his father's and his own hard work is accused by the plaintiff as a plagirisation of a novel which they have never even heard of, read or owned during the whole production of the movie. Previously, through his blog postings, Elias stated that there was an 85 percent similarity between his novel's storyline and the movie's. He later filed for a lawsuit on 24 November last year. Elias is seeking an injunction to stop the movie from being screened, a declaration that the defendants have infringed on his copyright ownership as the original author, as well as damages and costs. Judge Datin Azizah Nawawi has set 3 December 2015 for oral submissions. (Photo source: Metrowealth)