In C.S. (COMM )922 OF 2017- MADR HC- Madras High Court permanently injuncts Doordarshan Kendra Director from making payment of Royalty amount of film ‘Elangeswaran’ to anyone except exclusive copyright holder of its television telecasting rights
Justice S. Sounthar [06-06-2023]

Read Order: N. Ravi v. Director Doordarshan Kendra Swami Sivananda Salai

Simran Singh

New Delhi, June 8, 2023: The Madras High Court has declared N. Ravi (plaintiff) as the exclusive copyright holder of Television Telecasting Rights of the Tamil movie ‘Elangeswaran’ -- starring M.R. Rajesh, Revathi and K.R.Vijaya and directed by T.R. Ramanna -- which the Director of Doordarshan Kendra, Swami Sivananda Salai (defendant), without the knowledge of the plaintiff, telecasted on 20.12.2014. Further, the defendant was restrained from making payment of royalty amount for having telecasted the film to any person except the plaintiff.

The suit was decreed in respect of a prayer for declaration and permanent injunction and accordingly the defendants were directed to pay the costs of the suit to the plaintiff.

The Single-Judge Bench of Justice S. Sounthar stated that “the plaintiff herein succeeded in proving flow of right in his favour from original producer Sivakami Productions. However, the documents produced by the defendants do not link the flow of rights from original producer of the film to the 2nd defendant”.

It was the case of the plaintiff that the Tamil film titled 'Elangeswaran' was produced by M/s.Sri Sivakami Productions. The original producer assigned the Television Telecasting Rights in favour of M/s.Sridhar Films on 20.12.1989 under Ex.P2 on receipt of royalty amount of Rs.3,000/-. They in turn assigned television telecasting rights in favour one K.Palani for a consideration of Rs.15,000/- on 18.05.1995 under Ex.P3 who in turn assigned the rights in favour of one Mrs. K.Indira Devi for a consideration of Rs.30,000/- on 24.05.1995 under Ex.P4. The plaintiff got assignment of television telecasting rights in the above said film from the said Mrs. K.Indira Devi on 17.03.2011 under Ex.P7 for a consideration of Rs.30,000/-. Thus, the plaintiff claimed copyright over the television telecasting rights in the Tamil film 'Elangeswaran'.

The plaintiff further contended that the 1st defendant by fraudulently obtaining the software of the film 'Elangeswaran' from unknown sources, telecasted it on 20.12.2014 without the consent and knowledge of the plaintiff. Immediately, the plaintiff sent a letter to the 1st defendant informing them about his rights over the telecasting rights of the film and called upon them to stop the payment of royalty amount to any other person. Upon not receiving any reply from the 1st defendant, the plaintiff issued a legal notice on 01.10.2015 to make the payment of royalty amount to the plaintiff and the 1st defendant was also informed that in case of its default to pay, action would be taken against it for infringement of copyrights. Inspite of several notices and letters, the 1st defendant failed to comply with the lawful request made by the plaintiff and hence, the present plaint.

The Bench stated that according to Section 19 (1) of the Copyrights Act, 1957 the assignment of copyright should be in writing. Hence, upon pursuing  Exs. P2, P3, P4 and P7, the Court stated that it indicated the flow of right in favour of plaintiff from the original producer namely Sivakami Productions.

The Court further noted that the defendants had averred that the original producer Sivakami Productions had assigned the copyrights of the film in favour of one A.Ganesan of M/s Shyamala Movies by a letter dated 27.09.1990  under Ex. D3. It was stated that the Ex.D3 was subsequent to Ex.P2 and consequently, the alleged transfer pleaded by the defendants subsequent to the transfer in favour of plaintiff's predecessor was not valid in the eyes of law. The defendants had not produced any documents to show that A.Ganesan of M/s Shyamala Movies assigned the rights in favour of V.Balu, who had assigned the rights in favour of N. Govindarajan on 17.03.2014 who submitted the film for telecast to the 1st defendant.

The Bench stated that the in the absence of valid assignment deed to link the transfer in favour of V.Balu, the defendants would not acquire any valid television rights in the film 'Elangeswaran'. Thus the Court was of the view that the plaintiff succeeded in proving flow of right in his favour from original producer Sivakami Productions. However, the documents produced by the defendants do not link the flow of rights from original producer of the film to the 2nd defendant.

Further, the Court stated that the first document relied on by the defendants namely the alleged letter written by Sivakami Productions in favour of A.Ganesan of M/s Shyamala Movies dated 27.09.1990 was subsequent to the earliest document relied by the plaintiff namely Ex.P2 dated 20.12.1989. Therefore, this Court comes to the definite conclusion that Sivakami Productions validly assigned television rights in favour of Sridhar films and hence, the plaintiff was declared as the exclusive copyright holder of Television Telecasting's Rights in Tamil pictures titled ‘Elangeswaran’.