- Case number
- FAO(OS) (COMM) 52/2025
- Court
- Delhi High Court
- Date of judgment
- Judge
- C. Hari Shankar
- Outcome
- Dismissed
Headnote
Appeal dismissed and the injunction upheld. The Division Bench proceeded from the position that copyright vests in a song independently in the music, the lyrics and the sound recording, and that the case turned on where each of those copyrights sits. On the facts, copyright in the sound recordings in the film Moodu Pani, including the song in issue, vested in RCA and never resided in the composer. RCA transferred that copyright to the Gramophone Company of India, later renamed Saregama, by an agreement of 25 February 1980 in consideration of royalties. It followed that the sound recording could not be exploited, recreated or adapted without Saregama's licence, and doing so infringed its copyright.
Headnote by BRB Legal, written from the judgment: a summary for reference, not legal advice. Read the judgment itself before relying on it.