Giving a major relief to music companies which are often pulled up for copyright violation, Justice Vipin Sanghi of the Delhi high court has said that the remixed version of a song does not come under the Copyright Act.
The court said, “The right of the copyright-holder in a sound recording to communicate the sound recording to the public can only mean the right to communicate the sound recording as a sound recording and not the cinematographic version linked to it.”
The court passed the order after hearing a plea from the Gramophone Company of India seeking an injunction against Super Cassette Industries Ltd. (SCIL) from launching remixed versions of sound recordings on which they own copyright.
Gramophone Company alleged that SCIL has launched a series of audio cassettes containing version recordings which violate copyright. It did not grant any right or licence to SCIL to make version recordings of the works in which it has copyright. It alleged that the launch of “Super non-stop remix volumes 2, 3 and 4” contain remixed versions of songs from Hum Aapke Hain Kaun, Daur, 1942 — A Love Story, Saudagar, Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge and many more films. The court, after citing various provisions of the Copyright Act, said, “The owner[s] of copyright in the literary and musical works can make the making of a new sound recording by using the same literary, or musical work which may earlier have been used for making an earlier sound recording. This right is not taken away by the said provision. Therefore, it is permissible to make another sound recording either by using the same or different set of musicians, singers.”