Ilaiyaraaja’s Copyright Strike: GBU Streaming Blocked by Court

Legendary music composer Ilaiyaraaja is very particular about the usage of his music in other films, without acquiring his permission. He sent legal notices and filed lawsuits against many people for using his songs in several instances. He also filed a case against Mythri Movie Makers with regards to the usage of his songs in their production venture, Good Bad Ugly.

The case has come up for hearing in Madras High Court and Justice N Senthilkumar granted the temporary injunction in a plea moved by the musician seeking to restrain the producers from from exhibiting, screening, selling, distributing, publishing, broadcasting the movie, along with the three songs of Ilaiyaraja. This comes as a big shock to the producers now, as they have to stop streaming the film online, with immediate effect.

The point of discussion is regarding the usage of songs, “Otha Rubayum Tharen” from the movie “Nattupura Pattu”, “Ilamai Idho Ido” from the movie “Sakalakala Vallavan”, and “En Jodi Manja Kuruvi” from the movie “Vikram.”

Ilaiyaraaja argued that the makers of GBU did not obtain his consent or take permission from him. They did not pay royalties to which he is entitled also. As a result, he claimed that this is clear infringement of his copyright and moral rights, based on Section 19(9) and Section 19(10) of the Copyright Act.

As of now, team GBU is yet to respond on these latest developments.