Madras High Court Restrains Makers Of “Aromaley” Film From Using Scenes And Background Music Of “Vinnaithandi Varuvaya” Movie

The Madras High Court has temporarily restrained the makers of the new Tamil movie “Aromaley” from using the scenes and background music from the 2010 Tamil movie “Vinnaithandi Varuvaya”. Justice N Senthilkumar passed the interim orders on a plea moved by RS Infotainment, producers of Vinnaithandi Varuvaya. The production company had submitted that it had produced the 2010 movie in collaboration with Escape Artists Motion Pictures, under a Joint Venture Agreement dated February 16th, 2009 and as the producer, the company held all rights, including reproduction, adaptation, and public communication, under Sections 14 and 17 of the Copyright Act. The company also argued that it had moral rights under Section 57, to protect the integrity of the work from any distortion, mutilation, or modification that could harm the company's reputation or honour. The company stated that recently, it discovered that the background music from the Vinnaithandi Varuvaya movie was being unlawfully incorporated in the new Tamil movie Aromaley. It was submitted that the scenes and background music were used without any authorisation, in a covert and deceptive manner, engaging in digital distribution without informing the production company or obtaining the requisite consent. The company argued that by exploiting the copyrighted work unauthorisedly, the producers of the Aromaley movie failed to acknowledge the company's rights and committed a continuous violation of copyright law, demanding immediate intervention. Thus, the production company approached the court seeking a permanent injunction restraining the producers of Aromaley from infringing the company's copyright and restraining them from releasing the Aromaley movie through any digital or OTT platforms, particularly Disney Hotstar (2nd defendant), due to apprehension of copyright infringement. Case Title: RS Infotainment v. Mini Studio LLP Citation: 2025 LiveLaw (Mad) 429 Case No: OA 1086 of 2025 and CS (Comm Div) 293 of 2025

Madras High Court Restrains Makers Of “Aromaley” Film From Using Scenes And Background Music Of “Vinnaithandi Varuvaya” Movie

Upasana Sajeev

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