INDIAN PERFORMING RIGHT SOCIETY LTD Vs. ADITYA PANDEY

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE plaintiff (hereafter, "IPRS") seeks permanent injunction and other consequential reliefs against the defendant (hereafter, "SYNERGY MEDIA") alleging that the latter is guilty of copyright infringement. IPRS has, in I.A. Nos. 6486/2006 and 7027/2006 claimed temporary injunction.

(2.) THE brief suit pleadings are that IPRS is a non-profit making cooperative body constituted in August 1969 with the object of monitoring, broadcasting and enforcing the products, rights and privileges of its members, who include authors, composers, publishers of literary or musical works. It also claims to act on behalf of the members of other "sister" who have similar membership and claims to be the sole representative body and the sole national copyright society not only from India but the entire world. It is stated that after the amendment of the Copyright Act, 1957 (hereafter called, "the Act"), in 1994, the IPRS was re-registered in terms of Section 33(3) for which purpose it received a Certificate of Registration from the Registrar of Copyrights, dated 27.03.1996.

(3.) IPRS submits that in terms of the scheme formulated by the rules, which are governed by the provisions of the Act, it can and frames guidelines and tariffs for the structured collection of fees, having regard to the user organization, the event or the nature of the public performance right in question. IPRS also says that under the rules, it cannot collect more than 15% of the revenues derived from such royalties as administrative expenses, and the rest is distributed to its members. It also states that tariffs are fixed on the basis of pre-determined formulae and guidelines after involving all the copyright owners.