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Strengthening of the copyright regime in India seems to be carving a niche for itself as the question of obtaining and renewal of a valid license before any multi channel music can be played by the hotels to entertain their guests, seems to be resurfacing with Indian Performing Rights Society Limited (IPRSL) dragging Hotel Goa Marriott Resort to the Delhi High Court over the payment of license fee for the same.
IPRSL is a society, which is entrusted with the responsibility to monitor, enforce and protect the rights and privileges of the composers, publishers and authors of literary and musical work. It also grants license to the users of music and collects royalties for the same. In consonance with the said objective, the Society had issued a license to Hotel Goa Marriott regarding some of the components of its extensive repertoire and has been realizing the licensing fees since then. However, things had turned sour when the Society alleged that the license fees for the year 2004 and 2005 still remained unpaid in spite of the invoices for the same having been placed on the record for the same. The Hotel, interestingly, in its reply dated May 19, 2009, to the legal notice served, stated that it had entered into separate agreements with various broadcasters and had validly obtained the license to “communicate the musical work in its premises”. What appears to be rather astonishing is the claim of the Hotel to have paid the licensing fees till 2003 under protest. To emphasize the said point, the Hotel had drawn attention to the writ petitions filed in the High Courts of Bombay (at the Panaji Bench) and Delhi by Federation of Hotels and Restaurants Association of India (FHRAI) and the Travel and Tourism Association of India (TTAGI) which have significantly questioned the right of IPRSL to collect such licensing fee for the broadcast and communication of musical works. Needless to say, Hotel Goa Marriott is a member of both these associations.
In its order dated August 28, 2009 (CS (OS) 1591/2009), the Delhi High Court granted an ad interim ex parte injunction to the plaintiff Society, observing that the balance of convenience was tilted towards the plaintiffs at this stage. The Goa Marriott remained unavailable for a comment stating that the matter was still sub judice.
In a remarkable turn of events, on October 2, 2009 the Goa Marriott issued a press note, stating that by virtue of the order dated September 4, 2009 passed by the Delhi High Court, the injunction order passed earlier stands vacated and thus inoperable against the Hotel. ToI reports (here), the owners also added that “Goa Marriott Resort has contested the demands made by IPRSL with regards to the payment of licence fees on various grounds, inter alia, on the grounds that writ petitions are already pending before various courts challenging the right of IPRSL to collect license fees for the performance and communication of musical works.”
What, however, very significantly seems to be absent from the released press note, is the fact that the stay was sought to be vacated by the owners of the Goa Marriott, V M Salgaocar & Brothers Pvt. Ltd, since the hotel was now agreeable to deposit the sum of money Rs. 5,16,730.50 (without taking into account the interest and the penalty amount) equivalent to the license fee claimed by the plaintiff Society, as is evident from a bare reading of the order dated September 4, 2009.
Undoubtedly, the present suit involving IPRSL and the Goa Marriott is surely to rouse many a chords and is definitely one to be watched out for.
The Spicy IP Team thanks Ms. Shayonee Dasgupta, student of 3rd Year in the B.A./B.Sc. LLB. (Hons.) Program offered at the W.B. National University of Juridical Sciences (NUJS), for all her efforts in penning this piece of work and making the information available to all the readers.
