Film producers have only limited rights, contends Ilaiyaraaja
The film producers have only obtained limited rights to use his musical works for a limited purpose of synchronising and integrating for a particular period of time, noted composer Ilaiyaraaja contended in his appeal petition on Monday.
CHENNAI: He made this submission before the second bench of the Madras High Court comprising Justice M Duraiswamy and Justice TV Thamilselvi, seeking to set aside a single judge’s order dated February 13, 2020, restraining him from using the musical works from 30 Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu and Kannada films that he had done between 1978 and 1980.
Ilaiyaraaja wanted to quash the order saying that it erroneously held that producers have the right to the musical works of the films.
The production house had transferred the copyrights to Indian Record Manufacturing Corporate Limited.
According to him, the judge had no jurisdiction to hear the matter, as it was a commercial dispute that fall under commercial courts.
“The judge passed the order as if the producer has the sole right on the musical works. However, it is against Section 17 of the Copyrights Act, 1957. The appellant is the first owner of the musical work and the producer has no rights to transfer the copyrights,” Ilaiyaraaja’s counsel Thiyagarajan submitted.
The bench adjourned the matter for four weeks after directing the firm to file its response.
Visit news.dtnext.in to explore our interactive epaper!
Download the DT Next app for more exciting features!
Click here for iOS
Click here for Android
