The Delhi High Court on Monday refused to pass an interim order restraining the use of the song Jalsa by singer Satinder Pal Singh Sartaaj in an upcoming film, ‘Mission Raniganj’, after Sartaaj agreed to deposit ₹25 lakh with the Court. [Saga Music Private Limited & Anr v. Satinder Pal Singh Sartaaj & Ors]
The Court passed the order in 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.
Saga Music has claimed that it owns the rights to the song owing to an agreement dated August 16, 2022.
However, the Court was informed that Sartaaj had already assigned all the rights of the song to Sony Music Entertainment India Private Limited in 2014 for perpetuity.
Justice Pratibha M Singh eventually declined to grant the interim injunction sought by Saga Music, provided that Sartaaj deposits ₹25 lakhs with the Court.
“Subject to the said deposit being made, the prayer for interim injunction is rejected at this stage,” the order said.
The Court also 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.
During the hearing, the Court also orally observed that as far as an ordinary singer is concerned, the law is too complex for him.
“The artists don’t get their money and at the end, it is he who is to blame. It is very unfair,” Justice Singh remarked.
The Court noted that while Sony Music released the song on a commercial scale in 2014, it assigned the song’s rights to one Hardeep Singh Sidhu in 2018. The same was again an exclusive and absolute assignment, it observed.
After Sartaaj held a concert at the Sydney Opera House, he assigned rights to 12 songs sung there to Saga Music. He was to be paid ₹50 lakhs for the performed songs but was paid only ₹25 lakhs so far, the Court was told. Sartaaj proceeded to terminate the agreement in July this year, saying it was fraudulently executed.
During the hearing, Sartaaj conceded that he could not have executed the agreement with Saga Music when he had already assigned the underlying works to Sony in 2014.
The Court, in turn, opined that no rights could have been assigned in the underlying works to Saga Music.
“The said agreement to the extent that it sought to assign underlying works to the plaintiff (Saga Music) would have no legs to stand in as much as on the said date, the defendant did not own the rights in the underlying works,” the Court's order said.
It added that even if Sartaaj wanted to exploit the public performance in the Sydney Opera House concert, he ought to have first taken permission from Sony or Sidhu.
“The public performance of the said song would itself be incapable of exploitation by the plaintiff without rights in the underlying works,” Justice Singh said.
However, the Court said it was inclined to protect the interest of the plaintiff (Saga Music) by balancing the interests of the defendants as well.
After Sartaaj volunteered to deposit the amount with the Court within one week, the bench rejected the prayer for an interim injunction.
“The said deposits shall be without prejudice to the rights and contentions of parties appearing before the court,” the Court added.
Advocates Uttam Datt, Arjun Anand, Neel Mason and Sonakshi Singh represented the Saga Music Private Limited.
Advocates Abhishek Malhotra and Subhalakshmi Sen represented Satinder Pal Singh Sartaaj
Advocates Harsh Kaushik, Anushree Rauta, Shwetank Tripathi, Kunal Gupta, Narayani Choudhary, Ruddhi Bhalekar and Harsh Prakash represented Hardip Singh Sidhu.
Senior Advocate Dayan Krishnan and Advocates Pravin Anand, Ameet Naik, Dhruv Anand, Madhu Gadodia, Udita Patro, Megha Chandra, Sampurnaa Sanyal, Sujoy Mukherjee and Nimrat Singh represented Pooja Entertainment and Films Limited and Jjust Music Label Private Limited
[Read Order]