'Varaharoopam' Copyright Row : Kerala High Court Quashes Criminal Case Against 'Kantara' Makers Based On Settlement Between Parties

The Kerala High Court has quashed the criminal case registered against the producer, direcotr, distributor and music director of the Kannada superhit film "Kantara" under the Copyright Act over the alleged plagiarism of 'Navarasam' song of Thykkudam Bridge band as "Varaharoopam" song in the movie. The High Court quashed FIR registered under Section 63 of the Copyright Act, 1957 in view of the settlement between the petitioners (Kantara makers) and Mathrubhumi Printing and Publishing Ltd., the complainant in the case who holds the copyright over the "Navarasam" song.Justice P.V.Kunhikrishnan quashed all the criminal proceedings against the producer of the film, Vijay Kirgandur; director of the film, Rishabh Shetty; distributor of the film in Kerala, Prithviraj Sukumaran and composer of the song, Ajaneesh Loknath as all the disputes were settled between the parties based on a settlement agreement. The Court relied upon Apex Court decisions in State of Madhya Pradesh v Laxmi Narayan and Others (2019), Gian Singh v. State of Punjab and another (2012) and Narinder Singh and others v. State of Punjab and another (2014) to quash the criminal proceedings by invoking the powers of the Court under Section 482 of CrPC.“Keeping in mind the above dictum laid down by the Apex Court, this Court perused the facts in this case and also perused the documents produced by the parties. After going through the entire facts and circumstances, I am of the considered opinion that, the dispute is private in nature and the settlement can be accepted.”Senior Counsel Joseph Kodianthara as instructed by Advocate Vijay V Paul, appearing for Kantara crew submitted before the Court that the petitioners and the complainants have settled their disputes and the criminal proceedings can be quashed. It was also submitted that the parties have entered into a settlement agreement and the complainants have no objection in quashing the criminal proceedings against the petitioners.On the basis of the above observations, the Court quashed the criminal proceedings initiated against the petitioners in Crime No.703/2022 of Kozhikode Town Police Station.Citation: 2023 LiveLaw (Ker) 607Case title: Vijay Kirgandur v State of Kerala & connected casesCase number: Crl.M.C. Nos. 649, 1356 & 4182 of 2023Click here to download/read Order

'Varaharoopam' Copyright Row : Kerala High Court Quashes Criminal Case Against 'Kantara' Makers Based On Settlement Between Parties

Tellmy Jolly

Tags