Kannada star Rakshit Shetty’s production house, Paramvah Studios, has been asked by the Delhi High Court to pay a fine of Rs 25 Lakh for the unauthorised use of two songs in Shetty’s Kannada film Bachelor Party. Justice Tejas Karia held the studio liable for copyright infringement and willful disobedience of court directions. The makers had defended, claiming that the musical usage was too “minimal” to require a license. “In any event, the use of the Original Works in the Impugned Film was not minimal as the song ‘Omme Ninnanu’ was incorporated for a substantial 31 seconds, whereas the song ‘Nyaya Ellide’ was used for 7 seconds.”
What does the Copyright Act say?
As per Section 14(d)(i)(A) of the Copyright Act, even a single photograph of any image forming part of the film is an exclusive right of the copyright owner and, therefore, “the Defendants could not have used even a single frame of any song for even a second without permission of the Plaintiff,” the Court held. (Agencies)
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