The
Delhi High Court on Monday restrained Azure Hospitality Private Limited (owner
of popular restaurants such as Mamagoto, Dhaba, Sly Granny, Fox Trot, etc.)
from playing Phonographic Performance Limited (PPL) songs on the premises of
their restaurants without an appropriate licence.
The
court held that PPL, being the owner of the copyright in the songs, was
entitled to issue licences for their use, even though it was not a registered
copyright society.
"The
role of a copyright society, as envisaged under the provisions of the Copyright
Act, is only for the purposes of collection of fees/royalties as an agent of
the copyright owners," the court order stated.
The
court took into account that the right to grant a licence for its works was an
inherent right of a copyright owner under Section 30 of the Copyright Act and
that Section 33(1) of the Copyright Act could not override such an inherent
right.
Section
30 of the Copyright Act, 1957, allows copyright owners to grant licences for
their work. Section 33(1) of the Copyright Act, 1957, states that only
registered copyright societies can issue licences for works that have
copyright.
"Section 33 of the Copyright Act comes into
play only where owners, who are members of a copyright society, have assigned
the right to grant licences to a copyright society," the court said.
The
court noted that Azure had not denied that they were playing PPL’s songs on
their premises and were, therefore, admittedly infringing PPL’s copyright.
Azure was restrained from using PPL’s songs until the final disposal of the
suit.
PPL
was represented by senior advocates Rajiv Nayar and Chander M Lall, along with
Ankur Sangal, partner at law firm Khaitan & Co, and his team comprising
Sucheta Roy, principal associate; Raghu Vinayak Sinha, senior associate; and
Shaurya Pandey, associate.