NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Thursday in its decision dismissed popular music composer, Ilaiyaraaja’s petition against the Delhi High Court order in ‘En Iniya Pon Nilave’ copyright row, but clarified that the HC’s observations were prima facie.
A bench of Justices J B Pardiwala and K Vinod Chandran refused to interfere with interim injunction granted to Saregama India Ltd restraining use of song without its licence. The apex court said, “It is needless to clarify that the observations in the impugned judgment are prima facie, for the purpose of deciding the issue in question.”
The litigation concerns the recreation of evergreen Tamil song ‘En Iniya Pon Nilave’ from film ‘Moodu Pani’ (1980). Vels Film International used recreated version in ‘Aghathiyaa’, claiming licence from Ilaiyaraaja. Saregama sued for infringement, claiming it owns sound recording rights.
The Delhi HC had on May 21 held copyright in sound recording vested with Saregama, while Ilaiyaraaja continued to hold copyright in underlying musical work. His rights were limited to musical component and did not extend to lyrics or sound recording. Without licence from Saregama, VFIL could not exploit sound recordings.