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HC provides relief to Mahanadhi fame Shobana over devotional song renditions
Coming to the rescue of K Shobana, known as ‘Mahanadhi’ Shobana for her role in the Kamal Haasan-starrer Tamil film Mahanadhi as a child artiste, the Madras High Court in an interim order on Tuesday restrained Symphony Recording Company from infringing upon the copyright over her devotional song rendition on Kanda Sashti Kavacham and nursery rhyme Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.
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Chennai
Justice MS Ramesh, before whom the plea came up, said that the so-called agreements dated December 14, 1995, and April 27, 1996, were executed when the plaintiff was 13 years of age. “Such an agreement or document by a minor would be invalid in the eye of law,” said the judge.
Also, there is no period of validity referred to in the two documents authorising the recording company from selling the recordings under these two documents. “As such, Section 19 (5) of the Copyright Act would come into play, which restricts the defendant to exercise the rights under any copyright, over and above 5 years,” he added.
“Even assuming that the agreements have some validity, in view of Section 19 (5) of the Copyright Act, the defendant may not be entitled to deal with the songs, rendered by the plaintiff, under these two documents,” Justice Ramesh added while granting the interim stay.
Her counsel Harihara Arun Somasankar had submitted that the alleged contract entered into by Shobana and Symphony was void or non-existent in the eyes of law. Because, at the time of contract in 1996, she was a minor and was hence incompetent to enter into the agreement as per Section 11 of the Indian Contract Act.
Moreover, as per section 19(5) of the Copyrights Act, the period of assignment was only for five years, which was 2011. Despite this limitation, Symphony was unlawfully exploiting Shobana’s works, Somasankar argued.
In her petition, Shobana has sought to restrain Symphony and its partner, Rajesh S Dhupad, from exploiting her rights over the songs, and also sought for Rs 20 lakh as damages.
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