Ilaiyaraaja moves Supreme Court to transfer Sony copyright suit from Bombay to Madras High Court

Noted music composer Ilaiyaraaja has filed a transfer petition before the Supreme Court seeking to shift a suit involving the copyright of over 536 of his musical works from the Bombay High Court to the Madras High Court. [Ilaiyaraaja Music N Management Pvt Ltd v Sony Music Entertainment India Pvt Ltd].The case briefly came up for hearing on Monday before a Bench of Justices K Vinod Chandran and NV Anjaria, who adjourned it to Friday, July 18. .In 2022, Sony Music Entertainment India filed a suit in the Bombay High Court seeking an injunction against Ilaiyaraaja Music N Management Pvt Ltd (IMMPL) from using 536 musical works. Sony claims it acquired rights over these works from Oriental Records/Echo Recording, the same entities with whom Ilaiyaraaja has had a long-running legal dispute.However, IMMPL contended that 310 of the 536 titles in question are already under adjudication before the Madras High Court, arising from a suit originally filed by Ilaiyaraaja in 2014 against Echo Recording. In that suit, Ilaiyaraaja had challenged Echo's claim over his compositions and sought protection of his moral and economic rights under the Copyright Act..Ilaiyaraaja has composed over 7,500 songs across more than 1,500 films in several Indian languages since the 1970s. It is contended by IMMPL that in 2007, his late wife Jeevaraja executed a licensing agreement with Agi Music, which was later terminated upon her death in 2011. This led to litigation over the extent and validity of rights granted to third parties.In 2014, Ilaiyaraaja sued Echo Recording in the Madras High Court, resulting in an interim injunction in 2015, followed by a final judgment in 2019, which held:Ilaiyaraaja retained moral and special rights over his musical compositions.The assignment to Agi Music had expired in 2012.However, the assignment of sound recording rights to Echo by producers was upheld.Subsequently, Echo assigned these 536 titles to Oriental Records, USA, which in turn entered into a transaction with Sony Music. Based on this, Sony filed the Bombay suit in January 2022, seeking to restrain IMMPL from using these works..IMMPL contends that the Bombay High Court suit is duplicative and overlaps entirely with the ongoing appeals before the Madras High Court. The transfer petition also argues:The Madras High Court has already issued a stay on part of its 2019 judgment - specifically, the portion recognising Echo's rights.Sony’s suit in the Bombay High Court is still at a preliminary stage, while the Madras High Court proceedings are well advanced.The petitioner has no presence in Mumbai and operates entirely out of Chennai.The petition emphasises that continuation of parallel proceedings in two High Courts would risk conflicting judgments, cause judicial inconsistency and lead to multiplicity of litigation..IMMPL is represented by Senior Advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan with Advocate Utsav Trivedi, Partner at TAS law.