- Access the court document on the Dhurandhar OTT release from here
The Delhi High Court on Wednesday refused to stop the OTT release of the film ‘Dhurandhar: The Revenge’ in a copyright dispute over the iconic song “Tirchi Topiwale” from the 1989 film ‘Tridev,’ holding that the plaintiff’s conduct and alleged suppression of material facts weakened its claim for interim relief.
Justice Tushar Rao Gedela was hearing a suit filed by Trimurti Films Private Limited against B62 Studios Private Limited, Jio Studios, and Super Cassettes Industries Private Limited, which owns T-Series.
What the dispute is about: Trimurti claimed that T-Series had only received limited rights under a 1988 agreement to manufacture and sell music records of songs from ‘Tridev’, and did not receive the right to reuse or remix “Tirchi Topiwale” in another film. The dispute arose after a remixed version of the song, titled “Rang De Lal (Oye Oye)”, was used in ‘Dhurandhar: The Revenge’.
The production house argued that it remained the owner of the song and underlying works and that the defendants needed fresh permission before using the track in a new film. It also sought an injunction restraining the OTT release of ‘Dhurandhar: The Revenge,’ removal of the song from all platforms, disclosure of revenues earned from the song, and royalty payments.
Trimurti’s arguments: Trimurti told the court that the 1988 agreement only allowed T-Series to exploit the music through records, cassettes, and broadcasting. It argued that synchronisation rights for use in another cinematographic film were never assigned.
The plaintiff further argued that every fresh exploitation of the song created a new cause of action and that earlier inaction did not extinguish its copyright claims.
Relying on Section 21 of the Copyright Act, 1957, Trimurti argued that nobody had formally relinquished the rights because nobody had filed any notice before the Registrar of Copyrights.
It also cited a separate 1989 agreement concerning video rights of ‘Tridev,’ arguing that if T-Series already owned all rights under the 1988 agreement, “there would have been no need for a separate 1989 video-rights agreement.”
T-Series cites earlier films and prior conduct: T-Series, however, argued that the suit was hit by “acquiescence, concealment, suppression, and willful non-disclosure of relevant facts.” It told the court that Trimurti had earlier objected to the use of songs from ‘Tridev’ in the film ‘Azhar’ through a legal notice in 2016, but never pursued the matter further after T-Series replied, asserting its rights under the 1988 agreement.
Trimurti did not legally challenge the use of another ‘Tridev’ song in ‘K.G.F: Chapter 1‘, T-Series told the court.
T-Series argued that the plaintiff had long accepted exploitation of the songs and that the agreement granted broad rights over the literary, musical, and dramatic…
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