Copyright society Phonographic Performance Limited (PPL) has moved the Bombay High Court seeking relief against comedian Kapil Sharma’s production entities over alleged copyright infringement in his Netflix show 'The Great Indian Kapil Show'.

The suit filed by sound recording owners has been filed against K-9 Films Private Limited, BeingU Studios Private Limited, Kapil Sharma, Bhavneet Kaur, Akshit Lahoria and Gurjot Singh, who are described as production companies and directors behind the show currently streaming on Netflix.

Justice Sharmila Deshmukh granted two weeks to the defendants to reply to the plea.

Appearing for PPL, Senior Advocate Sharan Jagtiani and Advocate Amogh Singh argued that the illegal use of PPL's copyrighted works is and will negatively impact its entire music business and reputation.

In its plea, PPL alleges that the defendants have been regularly playing sound recordings as background music during live recordings of the show, without obtaining the requisite licence.

The application states that three seasons with multiple episodes have already been shot and telecast and that shooting for Season 4 is underway. It apprehended that the show would exploit and use sound recordings of PPL during the shooting of the latest season. 

"By seeking to exploit PPL copyrights works without any license taken from PPL and in unauthorised manner, the producers are indulging in acts of infringement of copyright which ought to be injuncted by appropriate orders of this court," the application stated. 

PPL has sought an injunction against the producers from publicly performing or communicating to the public any sound recordings assigned or exclusively licensed to PPL, including at live recordings of the show. 

It has further asked for the appointment of the Court Receiver, Bombay High Court, to seize with police assistance all devices and media containing the allegedly infringing sound recordings, including laptops, hard disks, pen drives and music systems used by the defendants.