1. 'Ratri Sooryan'. This is the title of a Christian devotional song. Infringement of its copyright is the issue in a private criminal prosecution. The same is sought to be quashed under section 482 of the Cr.P.C. The ground urged at the time of hearing was that the copyright in the song was not registered.

2. Is registration of copyright mandatory to sustain a prosecution under section 63 of the Copyright Act ? This is the question to be answered to decide the Crl.M.C.

3. C.C.30/2010 is a complaint case. It is pending in the Court of the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Ernakulam. The 3rd respondent in the Crl.M.C is the complainant. The petitioner is the accused. Parties are referred to in this order as shown in the memorandum of Crl.M.C.

4. Annex-1 is a copy of the complaint. The material allegations in it are the following : The 3rd respondent is a lyricist. He in 1991 wrote the song 'ratri sooryan'. The song was set to tune by one Sri. John P. John. The song was given to an orchestra called 'Sruti' for including in the carol service of the Malankara Orthodox Christian Church. But the 3rd respondent continues to be the owner of the work. He happened to see a musical album telecas