Saregama Sues Emami In Delhi High Court Over ‘Unlicensed’ Use Of ‘Udi Jab Jab Zulfein’ Song For Advertising Shampoo
Saregama India Limited has filed a suit in the Delhi High Court seeking to restrain Emami Limited from using the song “Udi Jab Jab Zulfein” for advertising its product “Emami Kesh King Anti Hairfall Shampoo” allegedly without license.
Saregama argued that they were assigned rights to the literary, musical, and sound recording works of the film “Naya Daur” through an agreement dated October 17, 1955, giving them exclusive rights under Section 14(a) of the Copyright Act, 1957, to reproduce or create sound recordings of these works, which they claimed Emami infringed upon by using the song in an advertisement. They filed the suit promptly upon discovering the infringement in June 2024. In contrast, Emami contended that the agreement only granted sound recording rights, which expired 60 years after the film’s release on August 15, 1957, per Sections 26 and 27 of the Copyright Act, 1957, thereby expiring on August 15, 2017. Emami also argued that a letter dated May 31, 2007, from BR Films Pvt. Limited, was not an assignment agreement, and thus, Saregama could not claim ownership of the song. Nevertheless, Emami offered to deposit ₹10 lakhs with the court as a show of good faith and willingness to pay the actual owner. Saregama submitted that it charges approximately ₹ 40-50 Lacs per annum for such licenses. However, the aforesaid figure was disputed by Emami.
Justice Mini Pushkarna issued summons in the suit and issued notice on Saregama’s application seeking interim injunction in the matter.
Emami has been directed. (as an interim arrangement) to deposit a sum₹10 of Lacs with the Registry of the Court, within a period of two weeks. Saregama has been directed to submit documents, along with an affidavit, with respect to the amounts which are charged by it with regards to the license of similar nature, as in the present case.
Read order here.
ANI sues PTI in Delhi High Court for ₹2 crores over copyright infringement
ANI has moved the Delhi High Court arguing that PTI copied its videos of passengers in a Delhi-Darbhanga Spicejet flight suffering for nearly an hour as the plane’s Air Conditioning (AC) gave up.
ANI has sought damages of over ₹2 crores and permanent injunction restraining PTI from publishing any other original works of the plaintiff (ANI).
The Court issued summons to PTI, the advocate for ANI said that the two parties will talk on the issue.
Indian journalists’ YouTube videos get copyright strikes from South African company
Among those who received these claims were independent journalists Ravish Kumar, Ajit Anjum, Abhisar Sharma and Sakshi Joshi, as well as outlets such as Bolta Hindustan, the Probe, Dastak Live News, and content creators like Mr Reaction Wala.
All of these were sent to their YouTube channels by the same company, Ziiki Media Entertainment – a South African music aggregator, distributor, and production house. Headquartered in Johannesburg, it has a partnership with Warner Music in India, a branch in Noida, and Arun Nagar, Abhinandan Bhardwaj, and Nisha Nagar as directors. Ziiki’s clientele in India includes artistes such as Daler Mehndi, Jasmine Sandlas and J Star.
All the claims were on videos published a few years ago – most of them for clips sourced from the public domain, such as press conferences.
Netflix hit in copyright row in relation to its shark horror film “Under Paris” can keep swimming, French court rules
A French court on July 3 ruled that a shark horror film titled “Under Paris” could continue to stream on Netflix despite a copyright case against it.The Paris court threw out an emergency request from a film director who alleged copying to ban the streaming of the film, because the request was directed at the platform’s French subsidiary, not its international branch.
The court said Netflix France was not the “operator, publisher or host” of the streaming platform, according to its ruling seen by AFP.
But it did not rule on accusations that the watery nail-biter about a killer shark, set during the coming Olympic Games, largely copied the script for another unmade film about a giant catfish.
YouTube’s improved eraser tool easily removes copyrighted music from videos
YouTube has launched an improved eraser tool that lets creators remove copyrighted music from their videos while keeping other audio intact. The Erase Song feature lets creators silence copyrighted music in their content.
The updated Erase Song feature uses an “AI-powered algorithm” to help it more precisely identify and remove copyrighted songs without affecting other audio in a particular clip.
Cardi B Sued by Producers Claiming ‘Enough (Miami)’ Infringed on Their ‘Reservation Dogs’ Song
In a complaint filed in Texas on July 3, Fraustro and Aguilar accuse Cardi B and the song’s producers — James D. Steed (DJ Swanqo) and Joshua Parker (OG Parker) — of copyright infringement of their song “Greasy Frybread” featuring Punkin’ Lusty. Fraustro and Aguilar issued their complaint in United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas.
The suit alleges the 2021 single gained popularity after it was featured in the FX series “Reservation Dogs,” according to an initial report by Billboard. The song was used in episode four of the series with verses from Indigenous rapper Sten Joddi. Atlantic Records, Celebrity Booking Agency and Warner Music Group are also listed as defendants.
