IN THE CUSTOMS, EXCISE & SERVICE TAX APPELLATE TRIBUNAL, CHENNAI Service Tax Appeal No. 42449 of 2015 (Arising out of Order in Appeal No. 227/2015 (STA – II) dated 26.8.2015 passed by the Commissioner of Service Tax (Appeals – II), Chennai)

Ananda Vikatan Productions Pvt. Ltd. Appellant No. 5, Seventh Road Gopalapuram, Chennai – 600 086.

Vs.

Commissioner of GST & Central Excise Respondent Chennai North Commissionerate

26/1, Mahatma Gandhi Road Nungambakkam, Chennai – 600 034.

APPEARANCE:

Shri N.K. Bharath Kumar, Chartered Accountant for the Appellant Shri M. Selvakumar, Authorized Representative for the Respondent CORAM Hon’ble Shri M. Ajit Kumar, Member (Technical)

Hon’ble Shri Ajayan T.V., Member (Judicial)

FINAL ORDER NO. 40123/2026 Date of Hearing : 25.07.2025 Date of Decision: 21.01.2026 Per M. Ajit Kumar, This appeal is filed by the appellant against Order in Appeal No.

227/2015 (STA – II) dated 26.8.2015 passed by the Commissioner of Service Tax (Appeals – II), Chennai (impugned order).

2. Brief facts of the case are that the appellants are providing services under the categories of Television or Radio Programme Producers service and Sale of Advertisement Space or Time Service. During the verification of the records of M/s. Sun TV Network, it was noticed that the appellant had received payments from M/s. Sun TV Network i.e. M/s. Gemini TV and M/s. Surya TV (also referred to as ‘Broadcasters’), for recorded commercial productions of the Tamil serial ‘Kolangal’, of which the appellant is the copyright owner, after duly dubbing into Telugu/ Malayalam languages. It appeared that the said activity of production on behalf of others and assigning of copyright of programmes produced by the appellant to the broadcasters amounted to ‘Sale of Programmes’ which is a taxable service covered under ‘TV or Radio Programme Producer Service’. After due process of law, the Ld. Original Authority confirmed the entire demand of service tax for the period 2005-06 to 2009-10 along with interest and also imposed penalty equal to service tax under sec. 78 of the Finance Act, 1994. Against the said order, the appellant preferred an appeal before the Ld. Commissioner (Appeals) who vide the impugned order, upheld the adjudication order. Hence the present appeal.

3. Shri N.K. Bharath Kumar, Ld. Chartered Accountant appeared for the appellant and Shri M. Selvakumar, Ld. Authorized Representative appeared for the respondent.

3.1 The Ld. C.A. Shri N.K. Bharath Kumar appearing for the appellant submitted that in light of the Copyright Act, 1957, copyright qualifies as "goods" as it constitutes intangible property that fulfils the requisite attributes for classification as goods under the Tamil Nadu Value Added Tax Act 2005. Further as per Section 2(33) of Tamil Nadu Value Added Tax Act 2005, "sale" with all its grammatical variations and cognate expressions means every transfer of the property in goods (other than by way of a mortgage, hypothecation, charge or pledge) by one person to another in the course of business for cash, deferred payment or other valuable consideration. It has to be ascertained whether VAT is applicable on permanent or temporary transfer of copyrights. Once, the mode of transfer of right in the cinematographic film is on permanent basis, there shall not be any implications under the service tax law on such transactions since such transactions are in the nature of 'Deemed Sales' which are specifically excluded from the definition of 'Service' as enumerated in Section 65 B (44) of Finance Act, 1994. Once the said transaction is excluded from the definition of 'Service', there shall be no compliance required under service tax law. In the present case, the sale of copyright (goods) on perpetual basis constitutes a permanent transfer and is subject to VAT which the appellant has paid. The Ld. Counsel relied upon the case of Radaan Media Works (I) Ltd Vs Commissioner Of Service Tax, dated: 06.02.2018, wherein the Tribunal held that Section 65 (