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SC rejects music composer Ilaiyaraaja’s plea against Saregama’s copyright claim over song
Supreme Court refuses to interfere with Delhi HC ruling that Saregama owns the sound recording copyright of Ilaiyaraaja’s “En Iniya Pon Nilave”.
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The Supreme Court on Thursday refused to interfere with a Delhi High Court ruling that music composer Ilaiyaraaja did not own the copyright in the lyrics and sound recording of the popular song “En Iniya Pon Nilave” from the Tamil film Moodu Pani, holding that the rights in the sound recording vested with music label Saregama.
A bench of justices JB Pardiwala and K Vinod Chandran declined to entertain Ilaiyaraaja’s challenge to the high court’s May orders, which had dismissed his pleas against earlier rulings upholding an injunction in favour of Saregama.
The dispute arose after Vels Film International Ltd recreated “En Iniya Pon Nilave” for its film Aghathiyaa, claiming to have obtained the necessary rights from Ilaiyaraaja. Saregama objected to the use of the recreated version, asserting that it owned the copyright in the original sound recording by virtue of an assignment from the film’s producer.
Senior advocates CA Sundaram and Swathi Sukumar appeared for Ilaiyaraaja. Saregama was represented by senior counsel Mukul Rohatgi, assisted by advocate Ankit Arvind of Aerion Legal.
The Delhi High Court, in its earlier proceedings, held that Ilaiyaraaja retained copyright in the musical work — the tune or composition, but not in the sound recording or the lyrics of the song. It also held that he could not have assigned to Vels Film International rights that he himself did not own.
The division bench had affirmed the injunction granted by a single judge restraining the use of the recreated version of the song in Aghathiyaa. It held that the copyright in the sound recordings of Moodu Pani, including “En Iniya Pon Nilave”, had vested with RCA, the original rights holder, and was subsequently transferred to Saregama under a February 25, 1980 agreement.
“Without a licence, or permission, from SIL, therefore, VFIL could not have exploited any of the sound recordings contained in the film Moodu Pani, including the sound recording relating to the song En Iniya Pon Nilave,” the high court had said, holding that the recreation/adaptation of the sound recording amounted to infringement of Saregama’s copyright.
Ilaiyaraaja had argued that as the composer and author of the musical work, he remained the first owner of copyright in the composition and that Section 13(4) of the Copyright Act, 1957 protected his independent copyright even after the composition was incorporated into a cinematograph film.
The producers of Aghathiyaa, in turn, relied on the rights allegedly obtained from Ilaiyaraaja and contended that he was entitled to license adaptation of the musical work under Section 14(a)(vi) of the Copyright Act.
The single judge rejected these contentions and granted an injunction in favour of Saregama. The division bench subsequently upheld the decision, following which Ilaiyaraaja filed a review petition. The High Court dismissed the review on May 26, prompting his appeal to the Supreme Court.
