PANAJI
The recent verdict of the Bombay High Court at Goa which scrapped a State government circular that insulated music played at wedding celebrations and religious ceremonies from copyright claims could potentially disrupt and even silence Goa's music scene across sectors, including pubs, clubs and party/wedding venues, many in the industry say.
Last week, the Division Bench of Justices M S Karnik and Valmiki Menezes upheld the challenge of this circular by Phonographic Performance Limited (PPL), one of several agencies which licences use of copyrighted music and collect royalty.
The bench ruled that the circular “puts fetters on copyright societies from exercising their rights under the Copyright Act."
The verdict leaves at the mercy of these agencies a legion of Goa's local musicians, bands and DJs who normally belt out covers of popular songs with original music being rare exceptions at weddings, commercial parties, clubs, pubs and restaurants across the State.
The verdict may be crystal clear, but stakeholders on either side of the divide feel it is unlikely to provide a lasting solution to this imbroglio on the ground where agents of the royalty collecting societies or companies have been frequently issuing demand notes to musicians, club and pub owners and party venues, including starred hotels alleging violation of copyrights.
AUTHENTICITY OF
CLAIMS IN DOUBT
"One crucial question is how does anyone know who holds copyrights to which music?," said a top club owner who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
"There are millions of songs in the public domain. Before serving notices for royalty they should first publicise the list of songs they hold copyrights to so we can then make a choice to either pay royalty and play those songs or choose to play other music," the club owner said.
There is no way to know if the agencies are committing 'copyfraud' (falsely claiming a copyright) when they make a copyright violation claim for music played, he said adding that these collecting societies and their agents often act like extortionists and their demands for royalties and license are exorbitant.
"It is not viable to pay those sums for the scale of operations we have in Goa," he added.
ENFORCER OF THE LAW IS UNCLEAR
PANAJI: The copyright law is silent as to which law-enforcement agency will be the implementing agency and companies themselves act as enforcers, as of now.
But Ranjan Ojha, who heads Phonographic Performance Limited in Goa and represented the Mumbai based company in the High Court matter, said a police official higher than the rank of a police sub-inspector is empowered to book cases of violation of the Copyright Act.
Ojha denied allegations that company representatives behave like "extortionists" and argued that they usually issue a warning first up whenever violation of copyrights in relation to music they own is discovered.
"Legal action to recover royalty, usually four to five times the licence fee, is taken only for repetitive violations," Ojha said, adding that there are several venues and entities in Goa who do comply.
He however declined to name any entity which has complied with PPL's copyright claims saying the information is "confidential".
Ojha also said that they have and often exercised the option of video-recording copyright violations and presenting the evidence to courts and recover the penalties.
The collecting agencies may have won this round but many involved with Goa's music scene feel that it may not be the last word.
The latest situation post the verdict is most unfair to local musicians, hoteliers and Goa's tourism-entertainment sector as a whole, which may warrant the State government to step in and somehow resolve it.
