The Madras high court has declared that J. Surendran, son of V.N. Janaki, wife of former CM MGR, is the absolute and exclusive owner of the entire copyright of the book Naan Yen Piranthen, the autobiography of late MGR.
Justice P.R. Shivakumar allowed the suit filed by Surendran and restrained Sudha Vijayakumar, daughter of P. Narayanan, Janaki’s brother, and Raja Rajan Publications from infringing Surendran’s copyright in the work Yen Piranthen, either by printing, publishing or trading.
He also directed them to surrender the books already printed to Surendran and to render a true and proper account to him of the sale proceeds of books printed in two volumes, and pay cost to the plaintiff.
Surendran contended that after MGR’s demise the copyright of his autobiography vested with his wife Janaki, who also passed away on May 19, 1996.
Both of them left behind two wills each but it had no mention about the copyright of the book. Sudha Vijayakumar had claimed ownership over the autobiography and printed and published a book in 2003.
Vijayakumar claimed though Janaki became the owner of the copyright of the book, on her death it would revert back to the relatives of her husband MGR and not to the plaintiff, the son of Janaki.
The judge said though Vijayakumar claimed to be the adopted daughter of MGR, it was a clear admission by her that no dathahonam was performed to show that the adoption took place. As MGR died issueless, his wife became the sole non-testamentary legal heir.
Surendran was the son of Janaki, born through another person, Ganapathy Bhat. Janaki became the legally wife of MGR implying that there was a termination of the marital life between Ganapathy Bhat and Janaki.
Whatever it be, the parties did not dispute the legality of the marriage of Janaki with MGR and the fact that she was the legally wedded wife of MGR.
It was also an admitted fact that in the absence of any bequest, Janaki alone was the legal heir of MGR. Hence Janaki alone was the legal owner of the copyright of book. The plaintiff was admittedly the son of Janaki.
His claim to have succeeded her property was bound to be sustained unless it has been made as subject matter of bequest made by Janaki.
Plaintiff was the only son of Janaki. Therefore, he became entitled to the ownership of the copyright as the sole non-testamentary legal heir of Janaki and as such he has established his right
to seek the declaration and also injunction, the judge added.