IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE DEMOCRATIC SOCIALIST REPUBLIC OF SRI LANKA Sheela Wijewardene No. 7/16, Thalapathpitiya Road, Udahamulla, SC CHC Appeal No. 04/13 Nugegoda.

Case No. H.C. (Civil) 26/2005 (3) PLAINTIFF -VS-

1. Sarath Kothalawala, No. 112/7,1/1, Kanadawatta Terrace, Off Poorwarama Road, Colombo 05.

2. Rajiv Sebastian No. 112/7,1/1, Kanadawatta Terrace, Off Poorwarama Road, Colombo 05.

DEFENDANTS AND NOW BETWEEN Sheela Wijewardene No. 7/16, Thalapathpitiya Road, Udahamulla, Nugegoda.

PLAINTIFF-APPELLANT -VS-

1. Sarath Kothalawala, No. 112/7,1/1, Kanadawatta Terrace, Off Poorwarama Road, Colombo 05.

2. Rajiv Sebastian No. 112/7,1/1, Kanadawatta Terrace, Off Poorwarama Road, Colombo 05.

DEFENDANTS-RESPONDENTS Before: Hon. E.A.G.R. Amarasekara, J.

Hon. A.L. Shiran Gooneratne, J.

Hon. Arjuna Obeyesekere, J.

Counsel: Dr. Harsha Cabral, PC with Kushan Illangatillake instructed by V.W. Kularatne Associates for the Plaintiff-Appellant.

Mr. M.S.A. Wadood with Palitha Subasinghe, Tharanga Edirisinghe, Hashane Mallawarachchi, Dulmini Liyanage instructed by S.B. Dissanayake Associates for the 1^st Defendant-Respondent.

Argued on: 01.02.2022 Decided on: 23.05.2025 E.A.G.R. Amarasekara, J.

This is an appeal filed by the Plaintiff-Appellant (hereinafter sometimes referred to as the Plaintiff), seeking for reliefs in prayers ‘c’, ‘d’, ‘e’ and ‘f’ of the original Plaint, in addition to the reliefs that have already been granted by the Judgment of the Commercial High Court of the Western Province Holden in Colombo dated 30.07.2012. What has been granted as the relief were the injunction prayed for by the Plaintiff and the costs of the action.

The prayers ‘c’, ‘d’, ‘e’ and ‘f’ in the original Plaint is extracted as follows:

“c. Judgment and decree against the Defendants in a sum of Rs. 20 Million or such other sum as Court may find due to the Plaintiff on account of the loss suffered by the Plaintiff as a consequence of the several acts of infringement by the Defendants, together with legal interest from the date hereof until the date of decree and thereafter on the decreetal amount until the payment in full.

d. an order to deliver up to the Plaintiff by the Defendants all the infringing material in the possession of the Defendants including all copies of the Audio Compact Discs and the Audio-Visual Work titled ‘Sing along with RAJIV SEBASTIAN’, ‘Viduru Mal’

‘Reka Heenen Piyamba’ and ‘Torana SINHALA Karaoke Vol.2’

e. an order to render accounts to the Plaintiff of the profits made by the Defendants attributable to the infringement.

f. judgment and decree against the Defendants in such sum as found to be due to the Plaintiff upon taking into account of profits made by the Defendants together with the legal interest thereon.”

The Plaintiff based her Plaint on four causes of action stating that the economic rights belonging to the estate of late Clarance Arthur Somasinghe Wijewardene (hereinafter referred to as “late Clarance Wijewardene”) had been infringed by the 1^st and 2^nd Defendants-Respondents (hereinafter sometimes referred to as the “1^st and 2^nd Defendants”) in relation to the copy rights attached to certain lyrics and music compositions as described in the Plaint and also for the violation of moral rights attached to certain music compositions by distorting the said music compositions as described in the Plaint. When one goes through the body of the Plaint and the prayer and consider them as a whole, it is understood that the position taken up in the Plaint is that the Defendants are jointly liable for the causes of action described therein. Both Defendants first filed a joint answer refuting the claims of the Plaintiff and praying for the dismissal of the Plaintiff’s action. However, before the cross examination commenced on the evidence in chief tendered by way of an affidavit, the 2^nd Defendant came to a settlement with the Plaintiff. The first settlement was not properly adhered by the 2^nd Defendant but the Plaintiff and the 2^nd Defendant re-adjus