Ilaiyaraaja wins a long-standing battle for copyright

For many fans of the famous film music composer R. Ilaiyaraaja, this could be music to their ears.

The Madras High Court declared Tuesday that he was entitled to "special moral rights" over more than 4,500 songs composed by him for more than 1,000 films during his career, covering more than four decades.

In 2014, Judge Anita Sumanth stated that the composer was entitled to moral rights in accordance with section 57 of the Copyright Act 1957.

Right of the composer

The section protects the right of a composer to claim a right to his compositions, even after having fully or partially ceded them to third parties.

It also gives him the right to withhold or claim damages in respect of any deformation, mutilation, alteration or other act related to his work if such distortion, mutilation or alteration would affect his honor. or his reputation. that the composer had already reserved the right to sue for damages and other pecuniary damages against music labels, the judge reiterated that he had the right when he thought it useful.

However, she also concluded that Echo Recording also had the right to exploit the rights to sound recordings obtained by different film producers.

"The second accused [Echo] obtained rights concerning the sound recordings included in the songs set forth in Schedule I of the written statement and authorized to be operated in a specific and strict manner in the form and manner described in the respective motion pictures only, "said the judge.

With respect to the moral rights of Mr. Ilaiyaraaja, she stated:" This gives him the right to exploit such musical works of the as it may deem appropriate, with the exception of related sound recordings which form an integral part of cinematographic films, for which the copyright is held by the respective producers of the films. "