Delhi High Court Rejects The Prayer Of Ad Interim Injunction Restraining The Use Of The Song ‘Jalsa’ In The Film ‘Mission Raniganj’

3rd October, 2023 - 6:45 am Categories: Copyright 0 Comments

Introduction

‘MISSION RANIGANJ’ is an upcoming Hindi movie that is directed by Tinu Suresh Desai which is set to be released on6^th October, 2023. The movie is based on based on the Raniganj Coalfields collapse of 1989, in West Bengal. The Plaintiff, Saga Music Private Limited filed a suit against the Defendants seeking an injunction for restraining the incorporation or use of the song ‘JALSA’ in the upcoming film ‘MISSION RANIGANJ’.

What Is Copyright?

The term Copyright is defined under Section 14 of The Copyright Act, 1957. A copyright is an exclusive right of an individual to reproduce, sell, perform in public, communicate to the public, issue copies of, make adaptations of, give on commercial rental etc. any literary work, artistic work, dramatic work, cinematograph film or sound recording or authorise any person to do such acts.

[Image Sources : Shutterstock]

What Is Assignment Of Copyright?

Section 18 of The Copyright Act, 1957 deals with the assignment of copyright. The owner of a copyright has the right to assign the rights vested upon them with respect to the copyright to any other person.

The copyright can be assigned:

• Wholly or partially
• Generally or subject to specific limitations
• For the entire term of the copyright or only a portion of it.

When the copyright assigned relates to a future work, it will only take effect when that work actually comes into existence.

Brief Facts Of The Case

The subject matter of the instant case is the song ‘JALSA’ authored by Defendant no. 1 Satinder Pal Singh Sartaaj. On 22^nd April, 2014, Defendant no. 1 entered into an Exclusive Album Assigment Agreement with M/s Sony Music Entertainment India Pvt. Ltd. and assigned to them the rights of literary works, musical works, sound recordings, performances and performer’s rights. Later, on 17^th July, 2018, M/s Sony Music Entertainment India Pvt. Ltd. executed an Assignment Agreement in favour of Defendant No. 2, Mr. Hardip Sidhu. By way of this Assignment Agreement, Mr. Hardip Sidhu acquired rights in the song.

On 16^thAugust, 2022, the Defendant no. 1 entered into a Copyright Assignment Agreement with the Plaintiff and assigned to them, rights in 12 songs including the song ‘JALSA’.By way of this agreement,the Plaintiff no. 2 became the author of the said songs and agreed to pay a sum of Rs. 50 lakhs to Defendant no.1 out of which Rs. 25 lakhs had been paid to Defendant no. 1. Plaintiff no. 1 is a subsidiary of Plaintiff no.2 that holds the exclusive license of the song ‘JALSA’.

Recently, the Plaintiffs’ learnt that the song ‘JALSA’ is being featured in the upcoming movie ‘MISSION RANIGANJ’ that is being produced by M/s Pooja Entertainment Limited, Defendant No. 3. The song ‘JALSA’ originally authored by Defendant no. 1 was now owned by M/s Jjust Music Label Pvt. Ltd., Defendant no. 4.

Arguments On Behalf Of The Plaintiffs

The Plaintiffs’ submitted that the clauses of the Copyright Assignment Agreement made it very clear that the Plaintiffs had rights over the song ‘JALSA’.Further, the Plaintiffs submitted that the WhatsApp conversation with the Defendant No.1 would reveal that it was around the time of the film’s release that Defendant No.1 wanted to terminate the agreement with the Plaintiff No. 2 to ensure that the Plaintiff No. 2 is not able to create any impediments for the film’s release. Therefore, it is submitted that termination is itself completely illegal.

Arguments On Behalf Of The Defendants

The Defendant No.1 submitted that the Exclusive Album Assigment Agreement had already assigned the rights over the song ‘JALSA’ to M/s Sony Music Entertainment India Pvt. Ltd. and only the rights relating to public performance at the Sydney Opera House Live Concert were assigned to the Plaintiffs and nothing more.

It was submitted by Defendant No.2 that it acquired the rights over the song ‘JALSA’ from M/s Sony Music Entertainment India Pvt. Ltd. and the Plaintiffs had no rights in the song ‘JALSA’.

The Defendant no. 3 and Defendant no. 4, it was submitted that the the Defendant No.2 assigned rights over the song ‘JALSA’ to the Defendant No.3 vide agreement dated 24^thAugust, 2023 which came into effect on 1^stJune, 2023. The Film Acquisition Agreement and Music Distribution Agreement were entered into by Defendant no. 3 and Defendant no. 4. It was the contention of Defendant no. 3 and Defendant no. 4 that the film cannot be put in jeopardy due to the dispute between the Plaintiffs and the Defendant No.1.

Conclusion

After hearing the arguments of each side, the Hon’ble Delhi High Court found that Defendant No.1 entered into multiple agreements with multiple parties with respect to the same song ‘JALSA’.

In 2022, the Defendant no. 1 did not have any rights over the song ‘JALSA’ due to the Exclusive Album Assigment Agreement entered into between the Defendant no. 1 andM/s Sony Music Entertainment India Pvt. Ltd.in the year 2014. Thus, the Copyright Assignment Agreement dated 16^th August, 2022 could not have transferred any rights in respect of the song ‘JALSA’ to the Plaintiffs. Even if the Defendant No.1 wanted to assign the right to public performance of the song ‘JALSA’ in the Sydney Opera House Live Concert, they should have taken permission from M/s Sony Music Entertainment India Pvt. Ltd.before assigning any rights to the Plaintiffs. In absence of such a consent being obtained from M/s Sony Music Entertainment India Pvt. Ltd.the rights in the song ‘JALSA’ could not have been vested in the Plaintiff No. 2. Moreover, the right public performance of any song cannot be assigned without giving rights in the underlying works to the Plaintiffs.

In view of the facts and circumstances of the case, the Hon’ble Delhi High Court rejected the ad interim injunction and directed the Defendant no. 1 to deposit the sum of Rs. 25 lakhs within one week from the date on which the order was passed i.e. 25^th September, 2023.

Author: Sonakshi Pandey, Symbiosis Law School, NOIDA, in case of any queries please contact/write back to us via email to chhavi@khuranaandkhurana.com or at Khurana & Khurana, Advocates and IP Attorney.

REFERENCES

1. http://164.100.69.66/jsearch/ (last visited on 30 September, 2023)
2. https://www.scconline.com/blog/post/2023/09/28/delhi-high-court-refuses-to-restrain-the-use-of-the-song-jalsa-in-movie-mission-raniganj/ (last visited on 30 September, 2023)
3. https://www.barandbench.com/news/delhi-high-court-satinder-sartaaj-jalsa-song-mission-raniganj(last visited on 30 September, 2023)
4. https://copyright.gov.in/documents/copyrightrules1957.pdf(last visited on 30 September, 2023)