Read Time: 09 minutes

Synopsis

The Delhi High Court on Monday refused to pass any interim order restraining the use of the song Jalsa by singer Satinder Pal Singh Sartaaj in an upcoming film, ‘Mission Raniganj’.

The bench of Justice Prathiba M. Singh made the observation after Sartaaj agreed to deposit Rs. 25 lakh with the Court.

“Subject to the said deposit being made, the prayer for interim injunction is rejected at this stage,” the court said.

The court was hearing a suit filed by Saga Music Private Limited, which has sought a permanent injunction against Sartaaj and others from using the song in the Akshay Kumar-starrer movie. The Music company claimed that it owns the rights to the song owing to an agreement dated August 16, 2022.

As per the plaintiff Saga Music Pvt. Ltd., it released the song ‘Jalsa' in 2014 on a commercial scale, and on 17th July 2018, an Assignment Agreement was executed by Sony Music in favour of Hardip Sidhu (defendant 2), who was based in the United Kingdom. Sidhu had acquired the Rights in the song. Again, the same was an exclusive and absolute assignment in terms of Clause 4 of the Assignment Agreement.

In the meantime, Sartaaj held a concert at the Sydney Opera House in August 2022 wherein he sang a total of 19 songs, out of which he assigned the rights to 12 songs, including ‘Jalsa’ to Saga Music.

“….this Copyright Assignment Agreement is described as an agreement for perpetuity and applicable to the entire universe. This agreement dated 16th August, 2022 also gave rights to the Plaintiff No. 2-Unisys Infosolutions Pvt. Ltd. even in the literary works, and declared that the Plaintiff No. 2 would be the author of the said songs henceforth”, Justice Singh noted.

“Under this agreement, the Plaintiff No. 2 was to pay a sum of Rs.50 lakhs to the Defendant No.1. (Sartaaj) Admittedly, a sum of Rs.25 lakhs is stated to have been paid by the Plaintiff No. 2 (Unisys Infosolutions) to the Defendant No.1( Sartaaj) and the remaining Rs.25 lakhs is yet to be paid”, the court further noted.

The plaintiff claimed that it is a subsidiary of Plaintiff No. 2 (Unisys Infosolutions) and has been appointed as an exclusive licensee of some of the copyrighted works owned by it. It stated that it is the exclusive licensee of the song ‘Jalsa’.

Its main grievance is that it recently learned of the feature film produced and to be released by Pooja Entertainment Limited (Defendant No.3) titled ‘Mission Raniganj’ in which the rights in the sound recordings are stated to be owned by Jjust Music Label Pvt. Ltd (Defendant No.4).

The plaintiff stated that in the said movie, the song ‘Jalsa’ with the same lyrics and the voice of Defendant No.1 (Sartaaj) has been incorporated, and the movie is slated for release on 6th October, 2023.

Justice Singh noted that the suit highlighted the precarious position in which artists, film producers, companies who manage rights in music, and others are placed due to the execution of multiple agreements in respect of the same work.

Taking note of the submissions, the court stated that it is clear that Defendant No.1 (Sartaaj) entered into multiple agreements in respect of the same song ‘Jalsa’ with different parties. “Having signed the 2014 Agreement with the Sony Music, prima facie, no rights could have been assigned in the underlying works to the Plaintiff No. 2 (Unisys Infosolutions) vide Copyright Assignment Agreement dated 16th August, 2022”, it said.

“Prima facie, therefore, it appears that the rights that were transferred Copyright Assignment Agreement between the Defendant No.1 and the Plaintiff dated 16th August, 2022 in respect of the song ‘JALSA’ are unclear and ambiguous, in this background”, the court held.

Noting that Sartaaj volunteered to deposit the sum of Rs. 25 lakhs with the Registrar General of the High Court, the court ordered, “The prayer for ad interim injunction is rejected at this stage”.

“The Defendant No. 1- Satinder Pal Singh Sartaaj shall do so within a period of one week from today. The said amount shall be retained in a FDR on auto-renewal mode. The said deposit shall be without prejudice to the rights and contentions of the parties”, the court ordered.

Case Title: Saga Music Private Limited v. Satinder Pal Singh Sartaaj & Ors.