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IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI

Date of Decision: 6^th July, 2022

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CS (COMM) 358/2018 & CC 181/2008

ABHISHEK RAY

..... Plaintiff

Through:

Ms. Sneha Jain, Mr. Ranjeet Singh

Sidhu

&

Mr.

Kuber

Mahajan,

Advocates (M-9958393111)

versus

R. PAUL AND ORS.

..... Defendants

Through:

Mr. A.K. Jha, Advocate.

CORAM:

JUSTICE PRATHIBA M. SINGH

Prathiba M. Singh, J. (Oral)

1. The Plaintiff- Mr. Abhishek Ray has filed the present suit for

declaration and permanent injunction, rendition of accounts, damages,

delivery up, etc. The suit is filed against four Defendants, namely, Mr. R. Paul

(Defendant No.1), Mr. Michael Menezes (Defendant No.2), Showtimes

Events (India) Pvt. Ltd. (Defendant No.3) and M/s The Storytellers

(Defendant No.4).

2. As per the Plaint, the Plaintiff is a well-known music composer-singer

and he hasseveral prestigious albums both in Indian and in the international

market. The profile of the Plaintiff is that he has been composing music for

television channels including Doordarshan, Star, Sony, Zee, etc. The Plaintiff

has composed music for more than 500 television serials aired on various

channels. The feature films and documentaries for which the Plaintiff claims

to have composed music are:

This is a digitally signed Judgement.

NEUTRAL CITATION NO: 2022/DHC/002602

•‘HAASIL’,

•‘MISSION MUMBAI’,

•‘AHISTHA AHISTHA’,

•‘PAL PAL DIL KE SAATH’,

•‘MAHARAJA OF JODHPUR’

3. Defendant No.3 - Showtimes Events (India) Pvt. Limited is a company

run by Defendant No.1- Mr. Rohin Paul and Defendant No.2- Michael

Menezes. Defendant No. 3 is engaged in the business of creating, staging and

managing various events and shows in India and across the world. The said

Defendant is also engaged in the entertainment industry. Defendant No.4- M/s

The Storytellers is an entity engaged in the business of making ad films and

is not a contesting party. The said Defendant has already been proceeded ex

parte vide order dated 04^th April, 2008. The case of the Plaintiff is that he

composed, arranged, sung, recorded and produced a music album in

September, 2004 called ‘Kamasutra - Moods of Love’. The album consisted

of the following seven songs:

4. The Plaintiff claims that all the seven tracks are his own compositions

and were recorded in his own studio in Delhi. Various instruments recorded

on different individual tracks were merged through a multi-track

computerized recording platform and finally the audio album was created.

This is a digitally signed Judgement.

NEUTRAL CITATION NO: 2022/DHC/002602

The compositions of the Plaintiff being original and the Plaintiff having

composed and produced the album himself, it is the case of the Plaintiff that

he is the author of the compositions and the sound recording as per Sections

2(d)(ii) and 2(d)(v) of the Copyright Act, 1957(hereinafter ‘Act’) and also

the owner of the underlying works including the lyrics, the musical

compositions, etc within the meaning of Section 17 of the Act.

5. According to the Plaintiff, Defendant No.2- Mr. Michael Menezes

approached the Plaintiff in June 2005 and expressed interest in producing an

international musical incorporating the music compositions contained in the

album - ‘Kamasutra - Moods of Love’. The Plaintiff had earlier worked with

Defendant No.3 company in the past as a composer and singer. Various

meetings took place between the parties and Defendant Nos.1 to 3 agreed to

produce the musical. It is the case of the Plaintiff that the Plaintiff merely

agreed to assign the ‘right to use’the musical compositions to the Defendants

for the proposed musical. All other rights in the sound recordings and music

compositions were retained by the Plaintiff.

6. As a precursor to the production of the said musical, a promotional

video was also recorded admittedly by Defendant Nos.1 to 3 which consisted

of the Plaintiff's composition ‘Behka Behka’. The understanding,