The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Interim injunction against staging of ballet made absolute

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Wednesday, Feb 27, 2008
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Interim injunction against staging of ballet made absolute

Special Correspondent

CHENNAI: The Madras High Court on Tuesday made absolute an interim injunction restraining a U.S. based cultural organisation and an individual from staging in any manner a dance ballet “Jaya Jaya Devi.”

Lalgudi G. Jayaraman (renowned Carnatic musician) of T. Nagar and Sujatha Vijayaraghavan and Radha, both of Chennai, filed an application seeking an interim order of injunction restraining the respondents Cleveland Cultural Alliance, Ohio, U.S. and A. Lakshmanan of Annanagar here from staging the dance ballet and infringing their copyrights.

In December last year, an exparte interim order of injunction was granted. The plaintiffs also filed an application seeking leave to omit to sue for damages on the same cause of action. The court ordered notice on this. The defendants filed an application for vacating the interim injunction. The plaintiffs’ case is that Lalgudi Jayaraman, Ms. Sujatha Vijayaraghavan, a popular writer and Ms. Radha, a Bharatanatyam dancer and choreographer, joined together and produced the dance ballet in 1994 and performed it in several centres in the U.S. They owned the entire copyright over the ballet and they staged it in several places in India.

The U.S. based cultural organisation sought assignment of the copyright, but no agreement could be reached. In the organisation’s website, in the first week of December last year, the organisation’s plans to stage a revival of the dance ballet were publicised. Hence the plaintiffs’ present suit.

The defendants claimed the plaintiffs had no prima facie case, since the ballet was the production of the first defendant. They had paid the plaintiffs for their services and also spent huge amounts in staging the performances. The organisation claimed it was a non-profit one which was interested only in promoting music and arts.

In his order, pending suit, Justice V. Ramasubramanian said a careful perusal of all documents filed by both sides established that the first defendant engaged the plaintiffs for creating and composing the operatic ballet in 1994; that the cultural organisation paid a honorarium and also reimbursed the expenses incurred by the plaintiffs for travelling and in staging the performances and that both the parties did not reduce into writing the terms and conditions, subject to which, they came together for the ballet’s production.

The Judge said it was clear that the plaintiffs were the artists who created the ballet and that the first defendant paid an honorarium and reimbursed the expenses for the creation. But, there was no written agreement between the parties to spell out their mutual rights and obligations.

The court said it was clear from the language of section 17 of the Copyright Act that as a matter of general rule, the author of a work was the first owner of the copyright therein.

The Judge said the plaintiffs, who were authors, had a prima facie case to show that they were the owners of the copyrights therein. The first defendant could not establish that the work was produced in the course of the employment of plaintiffs with them. Coming to balance of convenience, the Judge said that the copyright owner was entitled to all remedies by way of injunction, damages and accounts.

The court allowed the plaintiffs’ application. It dismissed the application for vacating the interim injunction. It also allowed the plaintiff’s application seeking leave to omit to sue for damages on the same cause of action.

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