Event organisers to pay royalty for use of copyrighted songs: HC

January 04, 2017 12:54 am | Updated 12:54 am IST - New Delhi:

Any event organiser, if using copyrighted music or songs in a party, would have to inform the copyright societies which will issue an invoice for payment of royalty along with proof of their rights as per an interim arrangement arrived at in the Delhi High Court between a firm and three such societies.

To inform three societies

Under the arrangement, anyone who is going to hold an event will inform the three societies — Indian Performing Right Society (IPRS), Phonographic Performance Ltd (PPL) and Novex Communications Pvt Ltd — about copyrighted work to be used. One of these three, which hold the rights, will issue an invoice for royalty along with proof of ownership of the copyright.

Organisers would have to pay royalty prior to holding the event, Justice Najmi Waziri noted in his order, while directing the respondent societies to “upload on their respective websites the [copyright] assignment deeds along with the list of songs pertaining to such assignment deed”.

The order came after the societies claimed they were “legitimate assignees of copyrighted works or are otherwise duly authorised agents of copyright owners” and sought to enforce their rights under Sections 18 (assignment of copyright) and 30 (licences by owners of copyright) of the Copyright Act.

They argued that as long as the owner of a copyright exercises its rights under Sections 18 and 30, read 19 (mode of assignment of copyright) of the Act, “there is no bar on the copyright owner or his agent or an assignee from monetising the copyrighted works”.

The court was hearing a plea moved by the societies against its December 23 decision restraining them from granting licence, as copyright society under Section 33 of the Act, to play music and songs of various artistes in public. The December 23 order had come on a plea by Event and Entertainment Management Association (EEMA), which has claimed that the registrations of IPRS and PPL expired in 2013 and Novex was never registered.

The court has listed the matter for further hearing on April 24. — PTI

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