CHENNAI: Following the footsteps of AR Rahman, music director GV Prakash Kumar has moved a plea at the Madras High Court seeking an interim injunction on the tax notice issued by the Directorate General of GST Intelligence. The notice, served by the joint director of the tax authority, demanded GST to the tune of Rs 1.84 crore over the permanent transfer of music copyrights to movie producers.
The primary contention of G V Prakash is that the composer of a musical work becomes the absolute owner of the copyright for their work under the Copyrights Act, and subsequent transfer of such rights are exempted from tax under the Mega Exemption notification issued by the central government. Admitting the plea, Justice Anita Sumanth issued notices to the authorities to file a detailed reply and adjourned the case to March 3.
In terms of Section 13(1)(a) of the Indian Copyright Act, copyright subsists in musical work and the composer is the sole and absolute owner of such right and is exempted from service tax. A person having the copyright of a cinematographic film would also not be required to pay service tax on the amount received from the film exhibitors for exhibiting the film in cinema theatres, said GV Prakash.