Madras High Court: In an Original Application filed to grant an order of ad-interim injunction restraining Pyramid Audio India Pvt Ltd. (‘Pyramid Audio’), their men, agents, servants or persons acting on their behalf, from in any manner exhibiting and exploiting the copyrights of the film ‘GUNAA’ starring Kamal Hassan and others, music by Ilaiyaraja and directed by Santhana Bharathi, pending disposal of the suit , P. Velmurugan, J. has granted ad-interim injunction in favour of the applicant and directed him to comply with Order XXXIX Rule 3(a) of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908.
Background:
The applicant is in the business of financing, production and aggregation of copyrights in cinematographic films. In the course of business, he acquired the entire Negative Rights in ten Tamil cinematographic films from N. Rathnam by an agreement dated 04-07-2008. One among the ten films is a popular and critically acclaimed Tamil Cinematographic film by name ‘GUNAA’.
Pyramid Audio had obtained the World negative rights in the suit film from its producer by an agreement dated 12-12-1995. Thereafter, N. Rathnam, assigned the rights in favour of the applicant. Therefore, the applicant has been exploiting his copyright for the suit film despite various objections for his exploitation from Pyramid Audio. In June 2024, it came to knowledge of the applicant that Pyramid Audio is attempting to re-release the digital prints of the suit film in the Cinema theatres of Tamil Nadu. Hence, the applicant approached the Film Distributors Association, requesting them to intervene in the matter and resolve the issues. Pending resolution of the matter, the Pyramid Audio by producing false and concocted agreement in respect of copyright of the suit film, has caused the theatrical re-release of the digital prints of the suit film on 05-07-2024 throughout the State of Tamil Nadu. Aggrieved, the applicant filed the present application.
Court’s Order:
The Court said that the applicant has made out a prima-facie case for grant of ad-interim injunction as prayed for in this application. The balance of convenience and irreparable hardship has also been established by the applicant.
The matter will next be taken up on 22-07-2024.
[Ghanshyam Hemdev v. Pyramid Audio India Pvt Ltd, 2024 SCC OnLine Mad 3211, decided on 10-07-2024]
