May 14, 2003 -- BEST-SELLING New York novelist Barbara Taylor Bradford and her producer husband, Robert Bradford, just got back from India - and they didn't go there for the vindaloo. The author of "A Woman of Substance" and 17 other books was on a mission to block a massive TV ripoff of her work.

A month ago Bradford was surprised to get a fan letter from an Indian woman saying she was excited that "A Woman of Substance" was being turned into a TV serial on the subcontinent.

Bradford quickly learned that India's Sahara network was set to air a 260-episode series called "Karisma: A Miracle of Destiny," an undisguised copy of her Emma Harte trilogy - "Woman of Substance" and its sequels, "Hold the Dream" and "To Be the Best." (Bradford's next, "Emma's Secret," revives the character for the first time in 20 years, and is due out here in January).

Although "Miracles" used an Indian cast in an Indian setting, the resemblance to Bradford's rags-to-riches saga of London department store founder Emma Harte was precise down to the last detail. It was the more galling because Robert Bradford's American TV films of the trilogy, which starred Deborah Kerr, Anthony Hopkins and Jenny Seagrove, have been widely shown in India.

Bombay-based "Bollywood" producer Akash Deep has even admitted that his "Miracles" series was "inspired" by Bradford's novels, and said that "with ‘A Woman of Substance,' you can't go wrong."

After hearings in several Indian courts, the nation's Supreme Court on Monday upheld a ruling that found Deep's series "colorably imitative" of Bradford's work and restored an injunction barring Sahara from carrying the first episode that night. But Sahara went ahead and aired it anyway, claiming it hadn't been properly served. Bradford's lawyers are back in court today seeking a permanent injunction.

Bradford told PAGE SIX: "I've hired lawyers to protect my own copyright, obviously" - and especially to protect her new novel and two more to come about Emma Harte's grandchildren.

But, noting that Bollywood piracy of Hollywood storylines is common, she said, "Nobody before had gone to court in India over it. And as a member of the council of the Authors Guild and the Screenwriters Guild, I hope my efforts will help protect other writers, too."