The artistic director of a musical drama about the Great Siege of 1565 has been awarded €3,500 in damages for breach of copyright.

Saviour Mallia said he had been engaged by MK Leisure Ltd to produce a show entitled Knights Spectacular 1565. He developed the plot, wrote the script and engaged collaborators to help with music, choreography and costumes.

He told the court he had been dismissed in 2010, but the company still ran the show without seeking his permission for copyright purposes.

Mr Mallia felt he was entitled to damages, insisting that he owned the copyright to the plot, theatrical composition, stage management, the changes that had been made and the lyrics of three songs he had written for the show.

MK Leisure argued that Mr Mallia’s salary also covered copyright as producing the play was a collective work. There was no written contract of employment between the parties, it noted.

Mr Justice Mark Chetcuti, sitting in the First Hall of the Civil Court, said there was no doubt that Mr Mallia had been engaged as artistic director.

Nor was there any doubt that he had carried out the work under the supervision of his employer, which had come up with the idea and financed it.

The company had also employed the people Mr Mallia needed to prepare the show.

However, the court noted that telling Mr Mallia what the show was to be about did not make MK Leisure a co-author of the work.

A person who suggested a series of ideas and key story lines for a work written by others was not entitled to share in the copyright protection.

The court found that Mr Mallia was the author of the work and so enjoyed copyright.