Bombay High Court refuses interim relief to Shemaroo in copyright infringement suit against T-Series

The Bombay High Court recently refused to grant interim relief to Shemaroo Entertainment Pvt Ltd in its copyright infringement suit against T-series [Shemaroo Entertainment Ltd. v. Super Cassettes Industries Ltd.]..Shemaroo moved the Court alleging that T-Series was publishing on its YouTube channel, audio-visuals of film songs over which Shemaroo holds copyright. Justice Manish Pitale opined that Shemaroo failed to make out a prima facie case in its favour. “As Shemaroo is found to have failed in making out a prima facie case in its favour, the aspects of grave and irreparable loss being suffered in the absence of temporary injunction and balance of convenience, pale into insignificance. In the light of the above, this court finds that Shemaroo has not been able to make out a case for grant of temporary injunction as prayed. Accordingly, the application is dismissed,” the Court said..Shemaroo claimed that based on the agreements executed in its favour by various entities, it is the absolute owner of the copyright over the films, particularly the audio-visual songs.It claimed that all rights had been duly assigned to it by original owners/ producers through various agreements. On the other hand, T-Series claimed to have rights in terms of agreements executed in its favour by original producers/ owners. It stated that even the original producers never raised any objection to such exploitation of audio-visuals of songs of said films by T-Series..T-series claimed that between 1985 and 1990, various assignment deeds were executed in its favour with respect to certain films mentioned in the suit. However, Shemaroo disputed the same claiming that only audio rights were assigned to T-Series. Instead, between 2004 to 2016, various producers of films executed assignment deeds in favour of Shemaroo, thus granting sole, exclusive and absolute ownership of the films, including negative rights in the films, Shemaroo claimed. Shemaroo issued a cease and desist notice to T-series calling it to amicably resolve the disputes. It alleged that while T-series suggested that the disputes could be resolved amicably, it continued to exploit the works in which Shemaroo claimed exclusive copyright. This led to Shemaroo filing the present suit. It sought an urgent restraining order against T-series..The Court deduced that Shemaroo failed to make out a strong prima facie case for interim injunction even if it had an assignment deed which may state that it had all exclusive copyrights in its favour. The Court also opined that it will not go into the details of the interpretation of various clauses in favour of the plaintiff. .Senior Advocate Sharan Jagtiani with Advocates Hiren Kamod, Mahesh Mahadgut, Prem Khullar, Poonam Teddu, Siddharth Joshi and Kaivalya Shetye appeared for Shemaroo.Senior Advocate Ravi Kadam with Advocates Harsh Kaushik, Abhilisha Nautiyal, Zahra Padamsee and Kyle Curry briefed by Vashi and Vashi appeared for T-Series. Advocates Amit Jamsandekar and Nayan Mahar briefed by Khaitan Legal Associates appeared for B4U. [Read order]