The Controversy:
Famous lead singer of band Euphoria, Palash Sen alleged composer of the anthem of much hyped show hosted by Amir Khan ‘Satyamev Jayate ‘ for infringement of chants from one of the band’s old song “Satyameva Jayate “
Singer alleged that the chorus version of the song of Amir Khan’s debutant TV show is exactly the same as sung by them in one of their old song. The Singer also argued that although the lyrics of the rest of song are different but the mainstay of the song that is the chorus has been copied.
Interpretation Of the case under Indian Copyright Act,1957
Statutory law on Copyright in India is governed by Copyright Act 1957. As per Indian Copyright Act 1957, original literary ,dramatic ,musical, and artistic works are subject matter of copyright.
For a work to be original it should not have been copied from another work. To secure copyright for the work it is necessary that labor ,skill should have been expended sufficiently by the author /composer of the work.
In order to prove infringement it is the onus of plaintiff to prove that defendant has copied his work.
For an infringement to take place ,there need not to be an exact reproduction of the plaintiff’s work .Copyright in a work is considered to be infringed when substantial part of it has been copied .
For eg: High Court observed in the case of Zee Telefilms Ltd Vs Sundial Communication Pvt.Ltd, in order to find that substantial reproduction has been occurred it is important to find that if the work in question can stand without it .If it cannot ,then even if many dissimilarities exist in the rest , it would nonetheless be a substantial reproduction liable to be restrained.
Court also observed that infringement of the copyrighted work occurs if the evidence shows that there is striking similarities between the two works ,the plaintiff’s work was earlier in time and the defendant had the opportunity to get to know the plaintiff work.
Considering the provisions under Indian Copyright Act,1957 and taking support of observations made by Indian courts in similar cases this controversy seems to put the production and channel of the show in a big trouble in future.
