In its copyright infringement lawsuit against T-series, Shemaroo Entertainment Pvt Ltd. [Shemaroo Entertainment Ltd. v. Super Cassettes Industries Ltd.] was recently denied interim relief by the Bombay High Court. Shemaroo filed a motion with the court claiming that T-Series was posting audiovisuals of film songs to which Shemaroo owns the copyright on its YouTube channel. According to Justice Manish Pitale, Shemaroo failed to establish a prima facie case in its favour.”As Shemaroo is found to have flopped in making out an at-first-sight case in support of it, the parts of grave and hopeless misfortune being experienced without a trace of transitory directive and equilibrium of comfort, pale into irrelevance. In the radiance of the abovementioned, this court finds that Shemaroo has not had the option to present a defence for the award of the brief directive as supplicated. The Court stated, “Consequently, the application is dismissed.” Shemaroo asserted that it is the sole owner of the copyright to the films, particularly the audio-visual songs, thanks to agreements signed in its favour by various parties. It asserted that all freedoms had been appropriately relegated to it by unique proprietors/makers through different arrangements. On the other hand, T-Series asserted that it possessed rights based on agreements signed by original producers and owners in its favour. It expressed that even the first makers never mentioned any criticism regarding such double-dealing of sound visuals of melodies of expressed films by T-Series. T-Series claimed that various assignment deeds were executed in its favour about specific films mentioned in the suit between 1985 and 1990. Shemaroo, on the other hand, refuted the same, asserting that T-Series was only given audio rights. Instead, Shemaroo claimed, various film producers executed assignment deeds in Shemaroo’s favour from 2004 to 2016, granting Shemaroo sole, exclusive, and absolute ownership of the films, including negative rights to the films. Shemaroo sent T-series a cease-and-desist letter and urged it to settle the disputes amicably. It claimed that despite the T-series suggesting that the disagreements could be settled peacefully, it continued to exploit the works for which Shemaroo claimed exclusive copyright. Shemaroo filed the current lawsuit as a result of this. It looked for a critical limiting request against the T-series. Even though Shemaroo had an assignment deed that may state that it had all exclusive copyrights in its favour, the Court deduced that Shemaroo failed to establish a strong prima facie case for an interim injunction. The Court also stated that it would not discuss the specifics of the plaintiff’s interpretation of various clauses. Shemaroo was represented by senior attorney Sharan Jagtiani and attorneys Hiren Kamod, Mahesh Mahadgut, Prem Khullar, Poonam Teddu, Siddharth Joshi, and Kaivalya Shetye. Senior Backer Ravi Kadam with Promoters Unforgiving Kaushik, Abhilisha Nautiyal, Zahra Padamsee and Kyle Curry advised by Vashi and Vashi showed up for T-Series. Advocates Amit Jamsandekar and Nayan Mahar advised by Khaitan Legitimate Partners showed up for B4U.
written by- Sandeep Kumar Pareek, B.A. LL. B 2ND Semester,RNB Global University