PPL Copyright Issue | Third Parties Not Exempt From Paying License Fee To PPL Because Of Stay In Azure's Favour : Supreme Court

The Supreme Court recently clarified that its interim stay order dated April 21, 2025, in the dispute between Phonographic Performance Ltd. (PPL) and Azure Hospitality Pvt. Ltd. will apply only between the parties to the suit pending before the Delhi High Court and not to third parties.On April 21, 2025 the Supreme Court had stayed the direction of the Delhi High Court ordering Azure to pay PPL licence fees for playing its copyrighted sound recordings calculated as per the tariff of Recorded Music Performance Ltd. (RMPL), as if PPL were a member of RMPL.A bench of Justice Ujjal Bhuyan and Justice Manmohan passed the clarificatory order in an interlocutory application filed by PPL seeking clarification of the Court's April 21 order. PPL claimed that several third parties were refusing to pay any licence fees for playing its sound recordings by relying on that stay order.The Court allowed the application and passed the following order:“Without entering into the rival contentions at this stage, we clarify that the aforesaid order would be binding inter se between the parties to CS(COMM) 714 of 2022, pending before the learned Single Judge Bench of the Delhi High Court, which is in terms of the prayer “a.” of the application.”PPL has filed a copyright infringement suit against Azure Hospitality, which operates around 86 restaurants under brands such as 'Mamagoto', 'Dhaba', and 'Sly Granny', alleging unauthorised use of its copyrighted works. On March 3, 2025, a Single Judge of the Delhi High Court had granted an interim injunction restraining Azure from playing PPL's songs, observing that a prima facie case of infringement was made out.Azure challenged the order before the Division Bench, which modified the injunction by directing Azure to pay PPL in accordance with RMPL's tariff, without ruling on the merits of the copyright claim. PPL approached the Supreme Court against this modified direction.On April 21, 2025, the Supreme Court stayed the direction of the division bench requiring Azure to make payment to PPL. However, it did not restore the temporary injunction passed by the Single Judge restraining Azure from paying PPL's songs.In the clarification application, PPL was represented by Senior Advocates Gopal Jain and Vikram Nankani along with Advocates Ankur Sangal, Sucheta Roy, Ankit Arvind, and Nidhi Pathak.Azure was represented by Senior Advocates Sandeep Sethi and Viraj Datar along with Advocates Shivani Chaudhary, A. Karthik, Sugam Agrawal, Anindit Mandal, Abhilasha Shrawat, Hritwik Chaudhary, Aarthi Rajan, Shikha Sachdeva, Manish Dhir, Kriti Rathi, and Adarsh Chamoli.Case no. – SLP(C) No. 10977/2025Case Title – Phonographic Performance Ltd. v. Azure Hospitality Private LimitedClick Here To Read/Download Order

PPL Copyright Issue | Third Parties Not Exempt From Paying License Fee To PPL Because Of Stay In Azure's Favour : Supreme Court

Amisha Shrivastava

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