Bachelor Party copyright issue: Producer Rakshit Shetty to move court seeking clarity on copyright and damages

Nearly 6 months after the release of the Kannada film Bachelor Party, produced by actor-filmmaker Rakshit Shetty’s Paramvah Studios, a copyright infringement complaint has been filed against the banner. According to complainant Naveen Kumar of MRT Music, the makers of Bachelor Party used songs from the Kannada films Nyaya Elide and Gaali Maathu, the rights of which are owned by the former, without adequate permission and/or a formal agreement.

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Kumar filed a complaint stating that although he and the makers of Bachelor Party had discussed the same, no permission was granted, and yet, the latter went ahead and used the two songs – Nyaya Ellide and Omme Ninnannu – in the film. An FIR has been registered in this regard.

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Exorbitant royalty challenged

In an open letter issued in this regard by Paramvah Studios, they admit to having spoken to MRT Music about the use of two clips lasting only a few seconds each, and that the amount quoted was way beyond the budget they could allocate. MRT Music representatives, claims Paramvah Studios, were not open for negotiation. The banner also shared clips of the usage – a schoolgirl singing one of the songs in her class and a song being played on a TV in the backdrop of a scene.

Rakshit’s banner has decided to take legal recourse to seek clarity on what does and what does not amount to copyright infringement, as well as the amount that should be payable as the case maybe. This, believes Paramvah Studios, will prepare them and other filmmakers for challenges regarding use of music held by other parties.

Interestingly, the makers of the Kannada film Blink had similar issues when it came on OTT, owing to the use of a song as the protagonist’s ringtone and another in a sequence of a character singing an old Hindi song. The Kannada film For Regn also received a notice for a scene of a character humming a song from Dilwala Dulhaniya Le Jayenge. Upon clarifying with the music label, filmmaker Naveen Dwarakanath was told that use of even 2 seconds is considered copyright infringement.

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The team of For Regn negotiated with the music label and paid the fine, as the OTT platform hosting the film would have removed the film without such settlement.-