IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT MADRAS Reserved on:02.09.2021 Pronounced on:07.09.2021 Coram::

THE HONOURABLE DR. JUSTICE G.JAYACHANDRAN Civil Suit (Comm.Div.) No.412 of 2020 and O.A.No.770 of 2020 Mr.Veeramani Kannan, Represented by its Power of Attorney Agent, Mr.Sridhar Subbarayan, No.E 2A, Shanthi Apartments, Appu Street, Mylapore, Chennai 600 004. .. Plaintiff /versus/

M/s Super Audio (Madras) Private Limited, Represented by its Director Mr.Navin N.Daswani, Carex Centre, III Floor, 713 Anna Salai, Chennai 600 006. ..Defendant Prayer: Civil Suit has been filed under Order IV, Rule (1) of the Original Side Rules and Order VII, Rule 1 of C.P.C., read with Sections 2,13,14, 51, 55,58 & 62 of the Copyright Act, 1957, praying to grant a judgment and decree on the following terms:-

(a)pass an order of permanent injunction against the defendant, its directors, agents, officers, holdings, subsidiaries etc., from using or broadcasting any the songs in the Music Album in violation of the plaintiff's performer's rights under Section 38A of the Copyright Act, 1957.

(b)pass on order directing the defendant to render true and correct accounts of the profits earned from commercializing the plaintiff's performer's rights in the Music Album.

(c)pass an order directing the defendant to pay damages of Rs.5,00,000 for commercializing the performer's rights in the plaintiff's songs.

(d)pass an order directing the defendant to pay the costs of the suit to the plaintiff.

For Plaintiff :Mr.K.Rathinavel For Defendant :Mr.U.Vinay Metha --------

J U D G M E N T

(The case has been heard through video conferencing)

Suit filed under the Copyright Act, 1957 for injunction against the defendant from broadcasting the songs in the music album of the plaintiff more fully mentioned in the plaint violating the plaintiff's right as performer and for rendition of accounts of the profit earned from commercialising the plaintiff performer right in the music album and also to pay damages of Rs.5,00,000/-.

2.According to the plaintiff, he is a Singer by profession. He has sang various devotional songs in all the regional languages including Tamil. The defendant is a Music Company carrying on business of producing music album songs, videos etc., During the year 2015, the defendant engaged the plaintiff to write, compose and sing various devotional songs for the music album named, 'Shiva Murugan Paamalai'. Accordingly, the plaintiff sang four songs namely, (i)108 Chants of Lord Shiva; (ii)Shivan Aarthi; (iii)108 Chants of Lord Muruga and (iv)Murugan Aarthi. All the right in the music album were sold to the defendant for consideration as per the agreement dated 15.04.2015. The defendant had released the music albums in various platforms such as CDs, VCDs, DVDs, etc. However, since March 2020, the defendant, without taking any permission from the plaintiff or paying any royalties to the plaintiff for his performer's rights had published these songs in YouTube and had commercially exploited the same. Furnishing the dates of uploading the music album containing four songs, the suit is filed alleging that the defendant has made the songs available for streaming in the online platform, which is illegal and violative of plaintiff's performer's right under Section 38-A of the Copyright Act, 1957. The plaintiff, after coming to know about the violation of his right, issued cease and desist notice to the defendant on 29.09.2020 and called upon the defendant to make payments towards the plaintiff's share of royalties collected by the defendant till date and also to pay a sum of Rs.5,00,000/- towards damages. Inspite of cease and desist notice, the defendant continues the streaming the songs without taking any license from the plaintiff or paying the performer's royalties to the plaintiff. Hence, the suit is filed for the aforesaid prayer.

3. The defendant has filed written statement wherein, the claim of the plaintiff as a performer is denied. According to the defendant, the performe