Delhi High Court Restrains Goldmines Telefilms From Uploading Songs Of 14 Bollywood Movies In Copyright Infringement Suit By T-Series

The Delhi High Court has directed the production house Goldmines Telefilms to not upload songs from 14 Bollywood movies on YouTube after T-Series filed a suit for permanent injunction claiming copyright over the same.

T-Series said that it owns prior assignment deeds in respect of the audio-visual works and the cinematograph films for the songs from movies like Guru and Vaastav, and that Goldmines does not have rights to authorise uploading of the songs on YouTube.

While hearing T-Series’ application for interim injunction, the bench of Justice Prathiba M. Singh said, “Considering the nature of the disputes raised, in the meantime, the Defendant shall not upload any further additional audio or audio-visual works from the suit films, apart from those which have already been uploaded on YouTube, till the next date of hearing. The current status quo shall be maintained till the injunction application is decided by the Court.”

It was T-Series’ case that it is one of India’s leading music production companies, owning copyrights over a vast collection of songs. It said that though some videos uploaded by Goldmines on YouTube have been blocked, several videos continue to remain accessible on the social media platform.

Goldmines argued that it has also obtained assignment of rights in the cinematograph films from the movies’ producers or parties linked to them and, thus, it was entitled to exploit the songs as well.

However, T-Series contended that the assignment of audio-visual works in its favour is prior in time, and thus, the producers would not have the right to assign to Goldmines the rights that have already been assigned to T-Series.

Justice Singh remarked that the court would have to decide whether T-Series holds exclusive rights in the audio-visual songs of the suit films, and if so, to what extent. The court added it would also have to consider whether Goldmines has the right to exploit the audio-visual songs which are a part of cinematograph films, independently, on YouTube and other platforms.

“Clearly, these are issues that would require the Court to analyse each of the assignment deeds qua each of the suit films for both sides, and then pass appropriate orders,” the court said.

The court thus issued notice to the parties on the application for interim injunction filed by T-Series, directing Goldmines to file its reply and its assignment deeds. The suit films are as under:

i) Diljale

ii) Main Aisa Hi Hoon

iii) Vaastav

iv) Bees Saal Baad

v) Ek Chaddar Maili Si

vi) Guru

vii) Hisaab Khoon Ka

viii) Jungbaaz

ix) Pati Patni Aur Tawaif

x) Pyaar Ka Mandir

xi) Tahakla

xii) Muddat

xiii) Indaniyat ke dushman

xiv) Oonche Log

Case Title: SUPER CASSETTES INDUSTRIES PRIVATE LIMITED vs GOLDMINES TELEFILMS PRIVATE LIMITED

Citation: 2023 LiveLaw (Del) 662

Counsel for the Plaintiff: Mr. Amit Sibal, Ms. Geetanjali Visvanathan, Mr. Harsh Kaushik, Ms. Abhilasha Nautiyal, Mr. Mukul Kochhar, Mr. Shivansh Tiwari, Mr. Rishabh Sharma, Mr. Darpan Sachdev, Mr. Saksham, Advocates

Counsel for the Defendant: Mr. Sandeep Sethi, Sr. Adv. with Mr. Aurup Dasgupta, Mr. Rohan Thawani & Ms. Aakriti Vikas, Advocates

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