JUDGMENT :

1. The plaintiff - Indian Performing Right Society Limited (IPRS) has approached this Court seeking interim reliefs against the defendants in these suits, primarily on the ground that amendments brought into effect from 21.06.2012 in the Copyright Act, 1957, have completely changed the legal framework concerning the rights of authors of original literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works. It is the case of the plaintiff – IPRS, that being a society registered under the provisions of the Copyright Act, it is espousing the cause of such authors of original works, who were earlier deprived of their rightful claims, but now they have become entitled to claim royalties on each occasion that their original works are utilized and in the facts of the present cases, on each occasion when a sound recording is communicated to the public by the defendants. It is relevant to mention here that the defendants are companies engaged in the business of operating FM Radio Broadcast Channels. The plaintiff - IPRS claims that the amendments brought into effect from 21.06.2012 in the Copyright Act have the effect of calling upon the Court to consider granting interim reliefs, without being influenced by a series of judgements and orders of the Supreme Court and various High Courts, concerning identical claims raised prior to the amendment of the Copyright Act.

2. The defendants, on the other hand, submit that the amendments are merely clarificatory in nature, re-enforcing the well settled position of law. It is specifically submitted that Sections 13 and 14 of the Copyright Act pertaining to ‘works in which copyright subsists’ and ‘meaning of copyright’ have not been amended in the year 2012, thereby indicating that amendments in other provisions would not grant any new substantive right to the authors of the original works, whose cause the plaintiff - IPRS claims to espouse.

3. In order to appreciate the rival contentions, it would be appropriate to refer to the facts in brief.

FACTS IN BRIEF

4. The plaintiff - IPRS was incorporated as a company in the year 1969, with the object of protecting and enforcing rights, interests and privileges of authors, composers and publishers, who were its members, particularly in relation to the literary and musical works. The defendant in Commercial IP Suit No.193 of 2022 i.e. Rajasthan Patrika Private Limited was incorporated as a private limited company in the year 1974. It is engaged in the business of operating FM Radio Broadcast Channels, including the channel ‘Radio Tadka’.

5. In the year 1996, the plaintiff - IPRS was granted a certificate of registration under Section 33 of the Copyright Act by the Registrar of Copyrights, authorizing it to carry on copyright business in literary and musical works. In the year 1999, the defendant in Commercial IP Suit No.84 of 2022 i.e. Music Broadcast Private Limited was incorporated as a company. It is engaged in the business of operating FM Radio Broadcast Channels, including the channel ‘Radio City FM’. The said defendant Music Broadcast Private Limited entered into a licence agreement with the plaintiff - IPRS on 11.06.2001 for utilization of the repertoire of literary and musical works of the plaintiff as a part of its FM radio broadcast from the radio station ‘Radio City FM’. Similarly, the defendant - Rajasthan Patrika Private Limited also entered into such agreement on 17.07.2006 with the plaintiff - IPRS for broadcasting from the radio station ‘Radio Tadka’. On 25.08.2010, the erstwhile Copyright Board of India set a compulsory licence fee to be paid by the radio broadcasters in a proceeding under Section 31(b) of the Copyright Act, to which the defendants herein were parties. The same expired on 30.09.2020.

6. At this stage, it would be relevant to refer to judgement of the Supreme Court in the case of Indian Performing Rights Society (IPRS) Vs. Eastern Indian Motion Pictures Association and others, (1997) 2 SCC 820, wherein the Supreme Court con