Delhi HC Quashes Interim Injunction Against AR Rahman in Copyright Case
Court says single judge erred in presuming performers were composers; clarifies infringement issue yet to be examined
The Delhi High Court on Wednesday granted relief to music composer A R Rahman by setting aside an interim injunction issued earlier by a single judge in a copyright infringement case concerning the song Veera Raja Veera from Mani Ratnam’s 2023 film Ponniyin Selvan II.
A Division Bench comprising Justices C Hari Shankar and Om Prakash Shukla allowed Rahman’s appeal against the previous order, observing that the single judge had erred on principle. “We’ve given concurrent opinions. We have held that the single judge has erred on principle and finding on the basis of the material that shows that the junior Dagar brothers had rendered the composition that there is presumption that they were also the composers,” the bench said.
The judges emphasised that merely rendering a composition does not establish authorship. “We have said that if we hold that the person who renders the composition to be the composer, we will have to rewrite the definition of ‘composer’ in the Copyright Act. On that basis, without going into the infringement aspect, we have allowed the appeal,” the court added.
The bench clarified that the ruling was confined to setting aside the interim injunction and that it had not examined the actual question of copyright infringement at this stage.
The case stems from a copyright dispute over Veera Raja Veera, a track from Mani Ratnam’s historical drama Ponniyin Selvan II, composed by Rahman.
