Chennai: The Madras High Court on Wednesday reserved its orders on a petition filed by legendary music composer R Ilaiyaraaja, who has sought to prevent Hyderabad-based Mythri Movie Makers from broadcasting, streaming, or exhibiting the Tamil film ‘Dude’ on any platform, including OTT services, for allegedly using two of his iconic songs without authorisation. The case concerns the songs ‘Nooru Varusham’ and ‘Karutha Machan’, which were composed by Ilaiyaraaja many years ago for earlier Tamil films.

Ilaiyaraaja has approached the court through a civil suit seeking a permanent injunction as well as a mandatory injunction directing the production house to remove all allegedly unauthorised content in ‘Dude’ and disclose profits earned through what he has described as “wrongful exploitation” of his copyrighted works.

Why has Ilaiyaraaja approached the court again?

Senior counsel S Prabakaran, appearing for Ilaiyaraaja, argued that Mythri Movie Makers had repeatedly used songs composed by his client in their films without obtaining prior permission.

He noted that the same production house had earlier incorporated four Ilaiyaraaja compositions in ‘Good Bad Ugly’ (GBU), starring Ajith Kumar, which led the composer to secure an interim injunction in that matter as well.

Despite the earlier proceedings, the counsel stated that the production house included two more Ilaiyaraaja songs in ‘Dude’, starring Pradeep Ranganathan and Mamitha Baiju, prompting the composer to approach the High Court once more.

What were the court’s observations?

Justice N Senthilkumar, who heard the submissions, remarked in a lighter tone that the trend of reusing old film songs in new productions appeared to be growing, which in turn was resulting in repeated copyright infringement claims.

When the judge asked whether such reuse increased the popularity of the original compositions, the senior counsel replied that the concern was not popularity but “mutilation” of the songs and unauthorised commercial gain.

He emphasised the need for interim relief, pointing out that although Dude had completed its theatrical run, it continued to stream on an OTT platform featuring Ilaiyaraaja’s songs.

How did Mythri Movie Makers respond?

Appearing for Mythri Movie Makers, senior counsel P V Balasubramaniam disputed the allegations. He stated that the production house had lawfully acquired the rights from Sony Music, which currently holds the copyright to both songs. He added that Ilaiyaraaja created these songs before amendments to the Copyright Act, 1957, were introduced, and under the law at that time, the film producer was considered the first owner of the copyright.

Those original producers, he said, later transferred the rights to Sony Music.

When a lawyer representing Sony Music attempted to present arguments, the judge declined to hear him, stating that the music label was not a party to the suit and could not be entertained in the proceedings.

IANS inputs