Chennai, Nov 26 (NationPress) The Madras High Court has reserved its orders regarding a petition from the renowned music composer R. Ilaiyaraaja, who is seeking to prevent the Hyderabad-based Mythri Movie Makers from broadcasting, streaming, or showing the Tamil film 'Dude' on any platform, including OTT services. This action is due to the alleged unauthorized use of two of his famous songs.

The legal petition concerns the songs 'Nooru Varusham' and 'Karutha Machan', which were composed by Ilaiyaraaja many years ago for previous Tamil films.

Ilaiyaraaja has initiated a civil suit requesting both a permanent injunction and a mandatory order requiring the production company to eliminate all allegedly unauthorized material from 'Dude' and to reveal any profits gained from what he describes as the 'wrongful exploitation' of his copyrighted music.

Senior counsel S. Prabakaran, representing Ilaiyaraaja, contended that Mythri Movie Makers has consistently included songs created by his client in their projects without obtaining prior consent.

He highlighted that the same production company had earlier incorporated four of Ilaiyaraaja’s compositions in 'Good Bad Ugly' (GBU), featuring Ajith Kumar, which led to Ilaiyaraaja securing an interim injunction in that case.

Despite these previous legal measures, the counsel argued that the production house has used two additional Ilaiyaraaja songs in 'Dude', starring Pradeep Ranganathan and Mamitha Baiju, necessitating another court appeal.

Justice N. Senthilkumar, who oversaw the discussions, humorously noted that the trend of reusing classic film songs in modern productions seems to be increasing, leading to frequent copyright disputes.

When questioned if such reuse enhances the original songs' popularity, the senior counsel emphasized that the concern is not popularity but the 'mutilation' of the songs and unauthorized financial gain.

He underscored the need for urgent interim relief, mentioning that although 'Dude' has finished its theatrical run, it continues to be available on an OTT platform featuring Ilaiyaraaja’s music.

Representing Mythri Movie Makers, senior counsel P.V. Balasubramaniam countered the allegations, asserting that the production house has legitimately acquired rights from Sony Music, which currently holds the copyright for both songs. He pointed out that Ilaiyaraaja created these songs prior to amendments made to the Copyright Act, 1957, under which the film producer, not the composer, was considered the initial copyright owner.

He added that the original producers had subsequently transferred their rights to Sony Music.

When a lawyer for Sony Music sought to present arguments, the judge declined, stating that the music label was not a party to the current suit and could not participate in the proceedings.