Delhi High Court Restrains Ilaiyaraaja From Using Certain Saregama Songs: Report

The Delhi High Court has reportedly restrained veteran music composer Ilaiyaraaja from using sound recordings and musical works whose rights lie with the music company Saregama, according to Bar and Bench.

The injunction would apply to music from as many as 134 films, the report suggested. “Defendant [Ilaiyaraaja], its partners or proprietors, licensees, assigns, officers, servants, agents, representatives, contractors, sister concerns and any other person working for and on behalf of the defendant are restrained from exploiting/ using/ issuing licenses for the plaintiff’s Copyrighted Works i.e. the sound recordings and literary and musical works forming a part of the said Cinematograph Films enlisted in Annexure A appended to this Order or making any claim of ownership to the third parties or issuing any license for exploitation in relation to the plaintiff’s Copyrighted Works,” the Court reportedly ordered. 

According to the report and the lawsuit, Ilaiyaraaja not only uploaded many of the musical works on streaming platforms, such as JioSaavn, iTunes, and Amazon Music, but also asserted ownership over these works and authorised their use. Saregama also mentioned a legal notice issued by the composer in January, where he claimed rights over his compositions for many different films, which also include some that pertain to the current dispute as well.

The composer has meanwhile fought various legal battles for the unpermitted usage of his songs. In December last year, the composer settled a copyright dispute with Mythri Movie Makers, ending a months-long legal battle over the unauthorised use of several of his songs in two Tamil films. The production house, behind Good Bad Ugly and Dude, has agreed to pay the composer ₹50 lakh, according to a joint memo submitted to the Madras High Court on 3 December.

The dispute stemmed from the use of five tracks from the composer’s extensive catalogue—three incorporated into Ajith Kumar’s Good Bad Ugly and two featured in Pradeep Ranganathan’s Dude—without prior clearance. The memo notes that the Hyderabad-based company transferred the settlement amount to Ilaiyaraaja through RTGS after deducting statutory tax.