The State government has told the Madras High Court that the Central Crime Branch would complete the investigation and file the final report in three months on a petition against Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Essar for violating Copyright Act in using film songs as ringtones and caller tunes. Recording the submission of the Additional Public Prosecutor, Justice G.M.Akbar Ali closed the petition filed by S. Khaja Mohideen, proprietor of Bayshore Records, at Nungambakkam. Mr. Mohideen, holding copyright for 102 film audio works, alleged that the two companies were selling and offering various songs without obtaining valid licence or authorisation from him. Pointing out that Section 63 of the Copyright Act provided for punishment for infringing the rules for gain, he said in two separate petitions that the two companies had made monetary gain of Rs.4 crore each in the past few years.
He said despite several requests the two companies did not take any tangible step to stop infringing his copyright. The companies are hiding valuable information containing details about total number of songs sold by them to their customers and the value realised by them, he added
Mr. Mohideen alleged that the police did not take any steps to inquire into the matter after registering an FIR. Hence, he sought a direction to the police to investigate the matter and file a final report.
