The Madras High Court on Friday granted an interim stay against the criminal proceedings pending before a trial court initiated by Sun TV Network against sons of T.R. Pachamuthu, the Chancellor of SRM University.
Justice P.N. Prakash passed the interim order on a criminal original petition moved by Ravi Pachamuthu and Sathyanarayana Pachamuthu, both directors of Trac Media Private Limited.
The petitioners submitted that Sun TV Network had moved a criminal complaint against them and Trac Media for an alleged copyright infringement under the Copyright Act, 1957. According to the complaint, the petitioners telecast a song from Aambala on a TV channel owned by them repeatedly on March 5 and 6, 2015.
Claiming that Sun TV owns the copyright of the entire film, including the songs by virtue of an agreement dated January 5, 2015, executed by Vishal Film Factory, a criminal case was moved against Trac Media and its directors.
Contending that the criminal case has been filed with a malafide intention to harass them, the petitioners said, “The film’s copyright is not owned by Sun TV. They have filed the case on the basis of the self serving documents. Even before registering the case, the television channel approached us and demanded a huge sum. They also threatened us that criminal cases would be filed against us periodically.”
Alleging that the complaint was false and baseless, the petitioners added that they were only directors of the company and the day-to-day affairs of the firm, including the programmes, had been delegated to the management. Noting that Sun TV had so far filed nine such complaints against them, the petitioners pointed out that the television channel had not filed any suit for damages or injunction till date and wanted the court to quash the proceeding pending before the XXIII Metropolitan Magistrate, Saidapet.
When the plea came up for hearing, the judge granted an interim stay and directed the petitioner to surrender before the trial court. The judge directed the trial court to release them on bail.
