Mumbai: The Bombay High Court declined to grant interim relief to Trimurti Films Pvt. Ltd in its copyright infringement suit concerning the song ‘Saat Samundar Paar’, which has been adapted for the upcoming Dharma Productions film ‘Tu Meri Main Tera Main Tera Tu Meri’.
Justice Sharmila U. Deshmukh ruled that Trimurti Films failed to establish a prima facie case that its 1990 copyright assignment agreement with music label Saregama India Ltd was limited only to the exploitation of sound recordings for the manufacture of records and cassettes.
The agreement, executed on November 14, 1990 assigned certain rights in the sound recordings of Trimurti Films’ movie to Saregama.
The court observed that there was no clear restriction preventing Saregama from exploiting the underlying musical works beyond the purpose of making records.
“Prima facie, the plaintiffs have not shown that the assignment in favour of defendant No.3 was restricted solely to the exploitation of sound recordings,” the court noted.
On the question of balance of convenience, the court took into account that Saregama had previously licensed the underlying musical score on multiple occasions.
It also noted that a teaser featuring the background score of the disputed song was released in December 2024.
The court observed that Trimurti Films, being part of the film industry, could not plausibly claim ignorance of the proposed use of the song in the upcoming film.
Highlighting the substantial investment involved in producing a cinematograph film, the court said there was no material to show that the song could be removed without affecting the film’s script or overall structure.
“The balance of convenience favours the defendants, and granting ad-interim relief at this stage would cause them serious prejudice,” the court held.
Trimurti Films had contended that it retained rights over the original sound recording and the underlying musical work, and that Saregama’s rights were limited.
Senior advocate Ravi Kadam, appearing for Trimurti Films, argued that the absence of separate consideration for the underlying musical work showed that such rights were not independently assigned.
Dharma Productions and Saregama countered the claim by pointing out that the music label had earlier licensed the song for adaptations in films such as ‘Kick’ (2014) and ‘Jabariya Jodi’ (2019), as well as for advertisements, without objection from Trimurti Films.
Senior advocate Dr Birendra Saraf, representing Dharma Productions, submitted that the plaintiff was disentitled to interim relief due to delay, particularly since the film’s teaser was released on December 25, 2024.
Senior advocate Virendra Tulzapurkar, appearing for Saregama, argued that the plea was barred by delay, laches and acquiescence, noting that the 1990 agreement had been acted upon for nearly 35 years.
Dharma Productions was represented by the DSK Legal team, including advocates Parag Khandhar, Chandrima Mitra, Anaheeta Verma, Pratyusha Dhodda, along with chief legal officer Rakhee Bajpai.
