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Judges : JOHN MATHEW
K.I.GEORGE - Appellant
Versus
C.CHERIYAN - Respondent
Case No : C.R.P. No. 2732 of 1984-I
Decided On : 12/12/1984
Advocates Appeared :
K.P. Dandapani; Sumathi Dandapani; Jaju Babu; Mukesh Raman; C.A. Sreekantan; For Petitioner P.K. Balasubramanian; For Respondents
Copyright - Jurisdiction - S.54(a) of the Copyright Act, 1957 - S.62 of the Act
Fact of the Case:
The plaintiff filed a suit seeking injunction and mandatory injunction against the defendants for violation of a contractual agreement related to the publication of Tinkle picture stories in Malayalam language.
Finding of the Court:
The court held that the suit was based on a violation of a contractual agreement and not on the infringement of copyright, thus maintaining the jurisdiction of the Munsiff's Court.
Issues: Jurisdiction of the Munsiff's Court to try the case in light of the Copyright Act, 1957.
Ratio Decidendi: The court determined that the suit was based on a violation of a contractual agreement and not on the infringement of copyright, thus maintaining the jurisdiction of the Munsiff's Court.
Final Decision: The court set aside the order of the lower court and directed the plaintiff to present the plaint in the proper court with jurisdiction.
Based on the provided legal document, the main legal point established is that the jurisdiction to try a suit related to violation of a contractual agreement or infringement of copyright is determined by the nature of the claim, specifically whether it falls under the provisions of the Copyright Act, 1957 (!) (!) (!) (!) (!) (!) (!) .
The court emphasized that if the suit is primarily based on a violation of a contractual agreement, such as breach of terms or breach of an exclusive license, then the appropriate forum is the Munsiff's Court (or equivalent lower court) (!) (!) (!) (!) . Conversely, if the suit involves infringement of copyright rights, such as unauthorized reproduction or violation of exclusive rights conferred by copyright, then the jurisdiction lies with the District Court, as mandated by the Copyright Act (!) (!) (!) (!) (!) (!) (!) .
The judgment clarifies that the distinction hinges on whether the plaintiff's claim is based on a breach of contract (which would be within the jurisdiction of the Munsiff's Court) or on the infringement of copyright rights (which would be within the jurisdiction of the District Court). In this case, since the suit was found to be based on breach of a contractual agreement rather than copyright infringement, the court set aside the lower court's order and directed the plaint to be presented in the proper court with jurisdiction (!) (!) (!) (!) .
In summary, the key legal principle is that the nature of the claim—contractual breach versus copyright infringement—determines the appropriate court's jurisdiction.
1. Defendants 3 and 4 are the revision petitioners. The plaintiff, who is the 1st respondent herein, filed O. S. No. 556 of 1984 on the file of the Additional Munsiff, Kottayam, with the following prayers:
(i) "The first and second defendant may be restrained by an order of injunction from supplying bromides to defendants 3 and 4 for publication in Malayalam to anybody other than the plaintiff.
(ii) The first and 2nd defendants may be directed by an order of mandatory injunction to supply the remaining bromides including bromides Nos. 55,56 and 57 to the plaintiff for publication in his Poonchola as before.
(iii) The 3rd and 4th defendants may be restrained by an order of injunction from publishing any of the bromides of Tinkle Publications owned and edited by defendants 1 and 2 either in Balarama or any other similar publications allied to it in the Malayalam Language.
(iv) The defendants may be made liable for the entire costs of this suit and the plaintiff allowed to recover the same.
(v) Such other reliefs as the court may deem fit and proper in the circumstances of the case."
According to the plaintiff, the plaintiff and the 1st defendant (2nd respondent herein) entered into an agreement on 20-9-1982, under which the right of publication of Tinkle picture stories was given to the plaintiff. Para.4 of the plaint is as follows:
"As per the agreement the first and second defendants agreed to supply the bromides of Tinkle every fortnightly regularly to the plaintiff for publishing the same in bis children's magazine Poonchola. The right of publishing Tinkle picture stories in Malayalam language thus exclusively vests with the plaintiff and no other publication in Malayalam have any right whatsoever to receive the bromides of Tinkle and publish them in Malayalam."
Along with the plaint the plaintiff filed I. A. No. 2454 of 1984 for an interim injunction restraining defendants 1 and 2 from supplying bromides and restraining defendants 3 and 4 from publishing the bromides of Tinkle in Balarama or other publications allied to it in Malayalam language. Defendants
3 and 4 are the publisher and editor of another children's magazine. In the additional counter-affidavit filed by respondents 3 and 4 to this I. A. they raised the contention that the suit is one coming under Chap.12 of the Copyright Act and as such the District Court alone has jurisdiction to deal with questions raised in this suit. Therefore, according to them, the suit is not maintainable before the Munsiff's Court.
2. By the impugned order the Munsiff's Court has held that the Munsiff's Court has jurisdiction to try this case. Defendants 3 and 4 are challenging this decision in this civil revision petition.
3. The learned counsel for the revision petitioners place reliance on certain clauses in document No.1 and also on certain statements in the plaint in order to substantantiate his contention that this is a suit coming under the Copyright Act. Clause.1 and 4 of the Agreement dated 20th September, 1982 are as follows:
1. We are pleased to offer you one-shot publication rights in respect of TINKLE in Malayalam. But the copyrights in respect of the Malayalam version will continue to vest with us.
4. We agree not to revise the fee for publications rights till issue No. 61 or till December, 1985, whichever is more.
Special emphasis was also given to the statement in para 4 of the plaint, which is already extracted in this order, in support of the contention that the plaintiff is claiming exclusive right to publish the pictures. According to the learned counsel for the revision petitioner, the plaintiff's case is that the right of publishing Tinkle picture stories in Malayalam language exclusively vests in the plaintiff. So much so what the plaintiff is claiming is an exclusive licence coming under the purview of S.54 (a) of the Copyright Act, 1957, here-in-after referred to as 'the Act.". Under S.54 of the Act, the expression "owner of copyright" shall include an exclusive
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