On Monday, July 28, the Supreme Court dismissed a petition filed by legendary music composer Ilaiyaraaja, who had sought to transfer a copyright dispute concerning over 500 of his musical compositions from the Bombay High Court to the Madras High Court.

A bench comprising Chief Justice BR Gavai and Justices K Vinod Chandran and NV Anjaria declined to accept the arguments put forth by senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan, representing the composer, in favour of moving the case to the Madras High Court. At the outset of the hearing, counsel for Sony Music Entertainment informed the bench that the company had originally filed the case in the Bombay High Court at a time when no related matter was pending before the Madras High Court.

“The plea is dismissed,” the bench stated.

The legal dispute originated from a lawsuit filed by Sony Music Entertainment India in 2022 before the Bombay High Court, seeking an injunction to prevent Ilaiyaraaja Music N Management Pvt Ltd (IMMPL) from using 536 musical compositions.

Sony asserts that it acquired the rights to these works through Oriental Records and Echo Recording, entities with which Ilaiyaraaja has been involved in protracted litigation.

IMMPL, on the other hand, contends that 310 of the 536 disputed compositions are already under judicial consideration in a concurrent case pending before the Madras High Court.

That case, initially pursued by Ilaiyaraaja in 2014 against Echo Recording, contests their ownership claims over his compositions and seeks formal recognition of the composer’s moral and economic rights under the Copyright Act. The 2014 suit in the Madras High Court led to a landmark judgement in 2019, which upheld Ilaiyaraaja’s moral and special rights as a composer.

Ilaiyaraaja is regarded as one of India’s most prolific music composers, having composed over 7,500 songs across more than 1,500 films.

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