Kantara movie: Kerala High Court permits Thaikkudam Bridge to move Kozhikode District Court in Varaha Roopam copyright case

The Kerala High Court recently allowed the Malayalam music band Thaikkudam Bridge to contest its copyright infringement suit over a song in the Kannada movie Kantara, before the appropriate District Court in Kerala. .The song Varaha Roopam in Kantara has been the subject matter of two suits moved by Mathrubhumi Printing and Publishing Co. Ltd and Thaikkudam Bridge, the copyright holder and creator respectively of another song called Navarasam that was released over 5 years ago.The suit moved by Thaikkudam Bridge, the petitioner in the present case, was instituted first at the Kozhikode District Court which had first granted temporary injunction orders restraining the makers of the movie from using Varaha Roopam on streaming platforms and in movie theatres.However, it later dismissed Thaikkudam Bridge's plea, finding that it was not maintainable before it and should instead have been filed before the Commercial Court at Ernakulam. The Kerala High Court then stayed this order of dismissal. During the pendency of the proceedings before the High Court, Thaikkudam Bridge deleted several respondents from all the petitions and suits instituted by it, including Kantara director Rishab Shetty. As it stood at the time of disposal, only music composer BL Ajneesh remained party to the case..By way of a recent judgment, Justice MR Anitha, enabled Thaikkudam Bridge to contest its suit before the Kozhikode District Court itself. The single-judge said that she could not dispose of the plea in a "full fledged" manner, since Thaikkudam Bridge had removed most of the parties to the suit and as a consequence, may now have to make drastic changes in its pleadings and reliefs sought. .Instead, Justice Anitha deemed it appropriate to discuss the questions of law that came up during the case..One of the issues was about where a plaintiff, like Thaikkudam Bridge in this case, can institute a copyright infringement suit. The Court noted that as per Section 20 of the Code of Civil Procedure, the choice of the plaintiff is limited to file a suit in a court within whose jurisdiction the defendant resides or carries on business or in a place where cause of action wholly or partly arise.As per Section 62 of the Copyright Act, a wider power has been given to the plaintiff to institute the suit including the District Court where the plaintiff resides or carries on business. This provision does not mention any requirement for the cause of action having arisen in the jurisdiction, the Court noted.Justice Anitha observed that Section 62 only expands the rights under Section 20, not curtail it. Accordingly, it was ruled that Thaikkudam Bridge can move its suit in Kozhikode even though the band members reside elsewhere. This is because the movie Kantara, along with the song Varaha Roopam, were exhibited in theatres in Kozhikode as well and hence, the cause of action partly arose there, the Court held..Another issue was whether the suit ought to have been filed before a Commercial Court and not a District Court. Thaikkudam Bridge had valued its suit at ₹1,000 for each of the reliefs sought. The High Court opined that even if the subject matter may come within the definition of a commercial dispute, the valuation at ₹1,000 is not illegal and such valuation would take the plea out of the jurisdiction of commercial courts..It further observed that the District Court also shouldn't have taken into account the documents that the defendants had produced, before returning Thaikkudam Bridge's suit. .After holding as above on the legal points, the Court disposed of the plea stating,"Plaintiff/petitioner has to make necessary amendments in the petition as well as in the plaint accordingly. Thereafter, if at all the question of jurisdiction is pursued, it shall be disposed as per law above discussed.".[Read Judgment]