Supreme Court Leaves Saregama Injunction in Place

The Supreme Court on October 1 dismissed music composer Ilaiyaraaja’s plea challenging an interim Delhi High Court injunction that requires a Saregama licence to use the original sound recording of “En Iniya Pon Nilave,” from the Tamil film “Moodu Pani.” The court declined to disturb the injunction, leaving it in place while clarifying that the High Court’s observations are preliminary and do not determine the dispute’s merits. A bench of Justices J.B. Pardiwala and K. Vinod Chandran rejected Ilaiyaraaja’s challenge to the High Court order. The case concerns the use of a recreated version of the song in the film “Aghathiyaa” by Vels Film International, which had obtained a licence from the composer. Saregama objected, asserting that it held rights to the original recording. The Delhi High Court’s ruling distinguished between the underlying musical work and the original sound recording. It held that Ilaiyaraaja retained rights in the musical composition, while Saregama owned the sound recording. The court also said Ilaiyaraaja’s rights did not extend to the lyrics or recording, and that permission from Saregama was required to use the original recording.