Madras High Court dismisses Lahari Recording's appeals in 22-year dispute over Roja Telugu dub satellite rights

The Madras High Court recently dismissed two appeals filed by Lahari Recording in its long-running copyright dispute over the Telugu dub version of Mani Ratnam’s 1992 film Roja. [Lahiri v. Jain Television]

The Court held that the company had only limited rights to dub and theatrically exploit the film and could not restrain telecast through satellite television.

A Division Bench of Justices CV Karthikeyan and K Kumaresh Babu held that Lahari could not seek an injunction against Jain Television and other respondents from exploiting satellite rights in the Telugu dub version of Roja, since those rights had never been assigned to Lahari under its 1992 agreement with producer Kavithalayaa Productions.

“The appellant can never seek injunction against the respondent for exploiting Telugu dubbed version of the Tamil movie Roja via., satellite as the appellant was granted only the right to dub the movie into Telugu and exploit the same in theatres and in television in specific areas stipulated under the agreement.”

The dispute arose out of a June 16, 1992 agreement between Lahari Recording and Kavithalayaa Productions, the producer of the Tamil film Roja. Lahari said that under this agreement, it had acquired the sole and exclusive right to dub or remake the film in Telugu and exploit that version for 25 years in territories including Andhra Pradesh, Rayalaseema, Nizam, Coastal Andhra and Orissa, on payment of ₹34.5 lakh.

According to Lahari, it spent substantial sums dubbing the film into Telugu and obtained certification documents in its own name, including a certificate from the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) and a clearance certificate from the Film Publicity Clearance Committee of the South Indian Film Chamber of Commerce, both dated November 20, 1992. It argued that this made it the effective copyright holder and producer of the Telugu dubbed version.

The company approached the Court after learning that Jain Television had announced on December 6, 1994 that it would telecast the Telugu version of Roja through its satellite network on December 10, 1994. Lahari claimed it had never parted with its rights to exhibit the Telugu dubbed film and that the proposed telecast amounted to copyright infringement.

The Bench held that theatrical rights and satellite rights were separate and that distinct rights which could be assigned independently by the producer as the first owner of copyright under Section 17 of the Copyright Act, 1957.

“At the time when the Tamil film Roja had been released, there were two separate and distinct rights which could be assigned by the first owner of the copyright namely, exhibition of the movie in theatres and exhibition of the movie via satellite television.”

It also took note of Lahari’s own conduct in sublicensing video cassette rights to a third party under a January 25, 1993 agreement, observing that this went beyond the scope of its original rights.

“It is also to be noted that the appellant had violated their terms of the agreement by granting a right to the 3rd respondent to make video cassettes."

On the claim for damages, the Court held that in the absence of any satellite rights, Lahari had no cause of action.

"The appellant’s rights are restricted only to the right granted by the first owner of the copyright, namely the 2nd respondent. The appellant cannot seek to expand that right any further."

In light of these findings, the Court concluded that Lahari was not entitled to either an injunction or damages arising out of the telecast of the Telugu dubbed version of Roja.

Lahari Recording was represented by Advocate N Surya Senthil, briefed by Surana and Surana.

Jain Television was represented by Advocate S Vijayaraghavan.

Kavithalayaa Productions was represented by Senior Advocate PR Raman with Advocate Umasankar.

K Muni Kannaiah was represented by Advocate Kumarapal R Chopra.

[Read Judgment]