SC Rejects Ilaiyaraaja’s Copyright Appeal

A bench of Justice J.B. Pardiwala and Justice K. Vinod Chandran declined to entertain Ilaiyaraaja’s appeal against the High Court verdict of May 26 in favour of music label Saregama.

The dispute arose after a production house used a recreated version of the song in a film, claiming it had obtained a licence from the composer.

Saregama objected, saying the original producer of “Moodu Pani” had assigned it the rights to the song.

The High Court held that Ilaiyaraaja retained rights only over the musical component, or tune, and not the lyrics or sound recording.

A division bench upheld the single judge’s ruling of May 21. Ilaiyaraaja subsequently sought a review of the May 21 ruling, but the High Court dismissed the petition on May 26.