Today, On 14th July, Renowned music composer Ilaiyaraaja has approached the Supreme Court seeking transfer of a copyright case involving 536 of his compositions from the Bombay High Court to the Madras High Court for fair adjudication.
Renowned music composer Ilaiyaraaja submitted a transfer petition to the Supreme Court, requesting the relocation of a lawsuit regarding the copyright of over 536 of his musical works from the Bombay High Court to the Madras High Court.
The case wasmentioned in court before a bench of Justices K. Vinod Chandran and N.V. Anjaria, who postponed the hearing to Friday, July 18.
In 2022, Sony Music Entertainment India initiated a lawsuit in the Bombay High Court seeking an injunction against Ilaiyaraaja Music N Management Pvt Ltd (IMMPL) to prevent them from using the 536 musical works.
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Sony claims it obtained rights to these works from Oriental Records/Echo Recording, the same entities that have been involved in a prolonged legal dispute with Ilaiyaraaja.
However, IMMPL argues that 310 of the 536 titles are currently under consideration in the Madras High Court due to a lawsuit originally filed by Ilaiyaraaja in 2014 against Echo Recording.
In that case, Ilaiyaraaja challenged Echo’s claim over his compositions and sought protection of his moral and economic rights under the Copyright Act.
Since the 1970s, Ilaiyaraaja has composed over 7,500 songs for more than 1,500 films in various Indian languages. IMMPL asserts that in 2007, his late wife Jeevaraja signed a licensing agreement with Agi Music, which was later invalidated upon her death in 2011, leading to legal disputes regarding the extent and validity of rights granted to third parties.
In 2014, Ilaiyaraaja sued Echo Recording in the Madras High Court, resulting in an interim injunction in 2015 and a final judgment in 2019, which held:
- Ilaiyaraaja retained moral and special rights over his musical compositions.
- The assignment to Agi Music had expired in 2012.
However, the assignment of sound recording rights to Echo by producers was upheld.
Later, Echo assigned these 536 titles to Oriental Records, USA, which subsequently entered into a transaction with Sony Music. Based on this, Sony filed the lawsuit in Bombay in January 2022, seeking to restrain IMMPL from using these works.
IMMPL claims that the Bombay High Court lawsuit is redundant and overlaps entirely with ongoing appeals before the Madras High Court.
The transfer petition further argues:
- The Madras High Court has already issued a stay on part of its 2019 judgment specifically, the portion recognizing Echo’s rights.
- Sony’s lawsuit in the Bombay High Court is still at a preliminary stage, while the Madras High Court proceedings are significantly advanced.
- The petitioner has no presence in Mumbai and operates solely out of Chennai.
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The petition highlights that maintaining parallel proceedings in two High Courts could lead to conflicting judgments, judicial inconsistency, and increased litigation.
IMMPL is represented by Senior Advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan, along with Advocate Utsav Trivedi, a partner at TAS Law.
Case Title: Ilaiyaraaja Music N Management Pvt Ltd v Sony Music Entertainment India Pvt Ltd
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