MEENA PANCHU ARUNACHALAM PLAINTIFF Vs. SUN T V

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE Judgment was delivered by : All the three suits have been filed with regard to copyrights relating to Tamil motion picture'guru SISHYAN'. C. S. No. 1493 of 1994 is filed by Mrs. Meena Panchu arunachalam, Proprietrix of M/s. P. A. Art Productions alleging that she is in the business of production of motion pictures, that during the course of her business, she produced a Tamil movie film titled'guru Sishyan'starring rajnikanth, Prabhu, etc. , that the picture was directed by S. P. Muthuraman, that the plaintiff as producer and first owner of copyrights, has assigned distribution rights to various third party distributors retaining herself the satellite rights among other rights, that satellite rights have not been assigned to any person by the plaintiff, that the plaintiff is vested with satellite right of the picture'guru Sishyan', that the plaintiff entered into an agreement with the second defendant on 22-7-1991, that as per the agreement, the second defendant was given specific copyrights and lease rights of the said picture for exhibition and exploitation in 35 mm. dimension, that right to broadcast the picture through Satellite television was not given to the second defendant, that while so the first defendant claiming to be an assignee under the second defendant has announced telecasting of the picture'guru Sishyan' through its Satellite Television Network on 25-10-1994, that the first defendant has no right to telecast the suit picture through Satellite television, that the proposed telecast is illegal and an act of infringement of the plaintiff's limited copyright, that the second defendant has no manner of right over the limited copyright, namely Satellite telecast rights of the picture, that the agreement entered between the plaintiff and the second defendant does not even contain any specific word'satellite', that therefore assignment made in favour of the first defendant by the second defendant is illegal, that the plaintiff is the absolute owner of the limited copyright, namely the Satellite right of the picture'guru Sishyan', that in view of the attitude of the defendants, the plaintiff is constrained to file this suit for declaration that the plaintiff is the absolute owner of the copyright, namely Satellite rights for the entire world of the picture'guru Sishyan'and a consequential injunction restraining the defendants from telecasting the said picture through satellite T. V. First defendant is M/s. Sun T. V. , an Unit of Sumangali publications Private Limited, Chennai and it filed a written statement contesting the claim of the plaintiff by contending that the suit is not maintainable, that the plaintiff is the producer of the picture'guru Sishyan' in Tamil, that by the agreement dated 22-7-1991, the plaintiff has assigned the copyright and lease rights in favour of the second defendant, that the agreement specifically provides that copyright has been assigned in favour of the second defendant for a period of 99 years from 22-7-1991, that the plaintiff has assigned the said rights in favour of the second defendant for a perpetual period of 99 years, that the second defendant has been given the rights to deal with the negatives of the picture in any manner whatsoever as absolute owner, that the assignment deed dated 22-7-1991 in favour of the second defendant is in respect of distribution, exploitation and lease rights of the said picture all over the world, that the plaintiff has irrevocably authorised M/s. Gemini colour Laboratory to transfer the negatives in the name of the second defendant as absolute owner of the negatives and requested the lab to act according to the instructions of the second defendant, that the second defendant has thus become the absolute owner of the copyright of the said picture, that the plaintiff has not retained for herself the Satellite rights as claimed by her, that the second defendant has been given right to deal with the negatives of the picture, that no right has been reserved in favour of the Producer under the said agreement, that whatever rights available with the plaintiff at the time of assignment have been transferred to the second defendant, that the second defendant has assigned the world negative rights in respect of the said picture obtained under the agreement dated 22-7-1991 from the plaintiff to M/s. O. K. Films, that M/s. O. K. Films have assigned the copyright with regard to satellite Television Broadcast of the suit picture in favour of M/s. Nemichand jakab by a deed of assignment dated 3-1-1993, that the said Nemichand Jakab in turn has assigned the Satellite rights in favour of this defendant on 4-1-1993, that thus this defendant has become entitled to telecast the said picture through Satellite Television, that since the plaintiff has assigned the entire copyright of the picture in favour of the second defendant, she cannot lay any claim in respect of satellite television rights, that the claim of the plaintiff cannot be sustained, that this defendant has got the right to telecast the picture through Satellite Television, that there is nothing illegal in this defendant telecasting the picture through Satellite Television in its network, that therefore the suit is liable to be dismissed and the plaintiff is not entitled to declaration or injunction prayed for in the suit. M/s. O. K. Films, who have assigned the Satellite Television rights in favour of this defendant have given a letter to M/s. Gemini Colour Laboratory to deliver the negatives of the picture for making U-matic Tapes to M/s. Nemichand Jakab and that the plaintiff has lost her rights in respect of negatives of the film. Second defendant in the suit is Ramesh and said Ramesh along with M/s. O. K. Films filed C. S. No. 1357 of 1995 raising the following contentions :- Defendant is the Producer of the Tamil Talkie movie titled'guru Sishyan'in 35 mm. Colour featuring Rajnikanth, Prabhu, Gowthami and others, directed by S. P. Muthuraman, that the defendant offered to assign the absolute and exclusive copyright over the negative rights of the suit picture for a perpetual period of 99 years from 14-4-1993 to the second plaintiff, free from all encumbrances, that the second plaintiff accepted the same, that under a Deed of Assignment dated 22-7-1991 the defendant has assigned the entire negative rights of the suit picture in favour of the second plaintiff for a consideration of Rs. 2 lakhs, that as per Clause 2 of the said agreement, the perpetual negative rights for a period of 99 years has been granted to the second plaintiff which includes the distribution, exhibition and exploitation and lease rights of the picture all over the world, that the defendant has also issued an irrevocable letter to Gemini Colour Laboratory, Madras requesting it to transfer and deliver the picture and sound negative in favour of the second plaintiff from 14-4-1993, that on 23-7-1993 the second plaintiff has assigned the said rights in favour of the first plaintiff as per the agreement entered between them, that the first plaintiff has thus become entitled to exclusive world negative rights including the copyrights and lease rights of the said picture, that the first plaintiff has become entitled to World Television display Rights, Audio Rights and all other rights in all dimensions for a period of 99 years, that the first plaintiff has paid valuable consideration of rs. 2, 25, 000/- to the second plaintiff, that negative rights have been transferred to the first plaintiff, that Gemini Colour Laboratory has been addressed by the second plaintiff, that the Producer/defendant filed C. S. No. 1493 of 1994 before this Court with a prayer for declaration of her telecasting rights, that the said suit is also pending, that the first plaintiff is negotiating for the assignment of dubbing rights of the said picture, that the defendant is interfering with the prospective assignees falsely claiming that she retains dubbing rights, that the defendant has no dubbing rights, that she has transferred all the rights in favour of the second plaintiff, that the first plaintiff has now become the sole owner of copyrights of Tamil film'guru sishyan', that therefore the plaintiffs are constrained to file the suit praying for a declaration that the first plaintiff is the sole and exclusive holder of World negative rights including of copyright and they are also entitled to World Satellite Television Display Rights, that an injunction may also be granted against the defendant from interfering with the right of exploitation of the picture in any manner by the defendants. THE defendant Mrs. Meena Panchu Arunachalam, Proprietrix of M/s. P. A. Art Productions, filed a written statement raising the same contentions which she has raised in C. S. No. 1493 of 1994 filed by her.

(2.) M/s. Sun T. V. , an Unit of M/s. Sumangali Publications private Limited has filed C. S. No. 103 of 1995 impleading one Meena Panchu arunachalam and M/s. Raj Television Network Limited as defendants 1 & 2 making the following allegations :- The plaintiff is carrying on business in exhibiting motion pictures through their Unit SUN TV through Satellite Television broadcast, that the plaintiff has obtained negatives of the picture from the laboratory with the consent of the Producer for transferring it to U-matic tapes, that broadcasting through Satellite Television is done from Mania in philipines, that broadcast is made over 52 countries, that in the course of business, the plaintiff has acquired Satellite Television broadcast rights of the picture'guru Sishyan', that the first defendant is the Producer of the said movie, that the first defendant as Producer originally no doubt was entitled to all copyrights, that she has assigned the entire world negative rights in favour of one S. P. Ramesh as per the agreement dated 22-7-1991, that the agreement specifically provides that said Ramesh, the assignee, is entitled to entire copyright of the picture free from all encumbrances, that negatives themselves were transferred in the name of Ramesh for a period of 99 years, that Ramesh became entitled to deal with the negative rights in any manner whatsoever as absolute owner, that Ramesh has assigned all the rights to M/s. O. K. Films, who in turn has assigned the said rights in favour of Nemichand jakab, that Nemichand Jakab by an agreement dated 4-1-1993 assigned the satellite right in favour of the plaintiff, that as per the Assignment Deed the plaintiff has thus become entitled to Satellite T. V. Broadcast right of the picture'guru Sishyan'that no other person is entitled to the said right of the picture, that in fact the plaintiff has already made a broadcast of the picture in their Satellite Network on 30-5-1993, that this is known to the defendants, that M/s. O. K. Films by a letter dated 5-1-1993 asked M/s. Gemini colour Laboratory to deliver negatives for making U-matic tapes, that the first defendant cannot seek to assign any right for Satellite Transmission of the picture to anybody else, that the first defendant having assigned Satellite rights in favour of (Ramesh) cannot raise any objection for Satellite broadcast of the film by this plaintiff, that the second defendant has now advertised the picture for exhibition in Satellite Television on 15-1-1995, that the second defendant claims to have obtained Satellite right from the first defendant, but she herself is not entitled to any rights, that in view of the announcement made by the second defendant, the plaintiff is constrained to file this suit for declaration that the plaintiff is the absolute owner of the Satellite rights of the picture'guru Sishyan', that it is also entitled for permanent injunction restraining the second defendant from telecasting the picture'guru sishyan' through Satellite Communication Network and hence the suit. First defendant Mrs. Meena Panchu Arunachalam filed a written statement raising the same contentions which she has raised in her suit and stating that she was not aware of the plaintiff broadcasting the picture through its Satellite Television on 30-5-1993, that the plaintiff has no right to do so, that this defendant has assigned World Satellite rights for perpetual period in favour of the second defendant Raj Television Network, that the second defendant has got right to broadcast the picture through their Satellite Network, that what has been assigned to M/s. O. K. Films is only the right to exploit the picture in 35 mm. and that therefore the suit may be dismissed.

(3.) WHILE Exs. B-2 and B-3 are silent with regard to satellite Television rights in respect of the picture'guru Sishyan,'for the first time under Ex. B-1, M/s. Nemichand and Jakab, who has obtained the rights from M/s. O. K. Films in turn has assigned in favour of Sun T. V. the first defendant the Satellite Television Broadcast rights. WHILE the other two agreements are silent and do not include Satellite Television Broadcast rights, when the first defendant has chosen to take assignment given by the successors to Ramesh, he has claimed to have obtained World Satellite Television rights. Sun T. V. Network is engaged in the business of Satellite Television and that is the reason why they have chosen to obtain this right and the successors of ramesh, the original assignee, for the first time sought to convey Satellite television rights also in favour of the first defendant. It is on the basis of this agreement, the first defendant claims to have obtained Satellite television rights. The plaintiff on the other would claim that she has never transferred or assigned Satellite Television rights in favour of Ramesh and, therefore, the persons claiming under Ramesh cannot rightly claim to have obtained Satellite Television rights and the latter rights are still preserved by the Producer, namely the plaintiff. Dispute with regard to copyright in respect of video and television have already surfaced and decided by our High court on prior occasions.