{"id":138044,"date":"2025-06-20T07:30:30","date_gmt":"2025-06-20T02:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/?p=138044"},"modified":"2025-06-19T18:35:20","modified_gmt":"2025-06-19T13:05:20","slug":"ms-subbulakshmi-biopic-who-owns-the-copyright-over-the-script","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/ms-subbulakshmi-biopic-who-owns-the-copyright-over-the-script\/","title":{"rendered":"MS Subbulakshmi Biopic: Who Owns the Copyright over the Script?"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3>Background: MS Subbulakshmi\u2019s Biopic<\/h3>\n<p>This copyright case revolved around a copyright dispute concerning a script for a proposed cinematographic film on the life of the renowned Carnatic vocalist M.S. Subbulakshmi. The plaintiff, Rajiv Menon, claimed to be the sole and exclusive copyright holder of the book \u201cMS \u2013 A Life in Music\u201d by T.J.S. George and of a script titled \u201cMS and Bala\u201d, which he asserted was based on the book. He alleged that Dr. M.P. Somaprasad (Defendant No. 1), whom he had engaged to direct the film, had violated his rights by independently using the script and proceeding to develop a film without his consent.<\/p>\n<p>Menon sought several reliefs from the trial court, including a declaration of exclusive copyright ownership, a permanent injunction restraining the defendants from using the script or producing a film, return of all materials in their possession, damages of Rs. 1 crore, and other appropriate reliefs.<br \/>\nThe trial court ruled in Menon&#8217;s favour. The defendants then filed a Regular First Appeal before the Karnataka High Court.<\/p>\n<h3>Questions Before the Court<\/h3>\n<p>The core issues before the High Court were:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Whether Rajiv Menon had exclusive copyright over the book and script.<\/li>\n<li>Whether the script \u201cMS and Bala\u201d was an original work of Dr. Somaprasad or based on Menon\u2019s copyrighted material.<\/li>\n<li>Whether Menon was entitled to the reliefs sought.<\/li>\n<li>Whether Dr. Somaprasad was entitled to relief through his counterclaim asserting copyright over the script.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h3>Arguments by the Parties<\/h3>\n<h4>Menon\u2019s Arguments:<\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li>Menon claimed exclusive rights to adapt the book \u201cMS \u2013 A Life in Music\u201d and to the script titled \u201cMS and Bala\u201d, asserting it was developed under his direction and ideas.<\/li>\n<li>He argued that Somaprasad had access to confidential information and breached trust by deviating from the original concept and proceeding to make a film without permission.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h4>Dr. Somaprasad\u2019s Arguments:<\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li>Dr. Somaprasad contended that there was no formal agreement or contract binding him to Menon.<\/li>\n<li>He argued that the script \u201cMS and Bala\u201d was an original fictional work inspired by the lives of M.S. Subbulakshmi and Balasaraswati and was independently developed.<\/li>\n<li>He also claimed there was no copyright in historical facts or ideas, and any similarities were due to common knowledge in the public domain.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Court\u2019s Analysis: Copyright Ownership and Infringement<\/h3>\n<p>The Court closely examined the nature of the script, the communications between the parties, and the concept of copyright under the Indian Copyright Act, 1957. It reiterated the principle that while ideas and historical facts are not copyrightable, the specific expression of those ideas is protected.<\/p>\n<h3>The Court observed that:<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>The script was written by Dr. Somaprasad and not by Menon.<\/li>\n<li>The plaintiff admitted that the script deviated from the book and that he rejected it for the same reason.<\/li>\n<li>There was no formal contract or agreement between the parties confirming an assignment or collaboration on the copyright of the script.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Further, the Court found no substantial similarity between the script and the book to prove copyright infringement. It concluded that any similarities were due to factual content that was already in the public domain.<\/p>\n<h3>Findings and Order<\/h3>\n<p>Based on its analysis, the High Court set aside the trial court\u2019s decree in favour of Rajiv Menon and allowed the appeal. It dismissed the plaintiff&#8217;s copyright infringement suit and granted the counterclaim relief to Dr. Somaprasad. The Court declared Dr. Somaprasad as the author and copyright owner of the script \u201cMS and Bala\u201d. It also permanently restrained Rajiv Menon from using or disclosing the script without prior consent from Dr. Somaprasad.<\/p>\n<p>Citation: Rajiv Menon v. Dr. M.P. Somaprasad, RFA No. 1589 of 2014, Karnataka High Court (Apr. 9, 2025),\u00a0<a id=\"LPlnk926883\" title=\"https:\/\/indiankanoon.org\/doc\/46893073\/\" href=\"https:\/\/indiankanoon.org\/doc\/46893073\/\" data-auth=\"NotApplicable\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">https:\/\/indiankanoon.org\/doc\/46893073\/<\/a> (visited June 19, 2025).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In a case between Rajiv Menon and Dr. M.P. Somaprasad, the Karnataka High Court was asked to decide who owned the copyright over the script \u201cMS and Bala\u201d for a biopic on M.S. Subbulakshmi. The Court held that the script was an original work of the defendant and not based on the plaintiff\u2019s book.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":138103,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":263,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,3],"tags":[1127,31,5968,5350,9741],"class_list":["post-138044","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-intellectual-property","category-copyrights","tag-cinematographic-film","tag-copyright-infringement","tag-copyright-ownership","tag-exclusive-rights","tag-ms-subbulakshmi-biopic"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138044","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=138044"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138044\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":138102,"href":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138044\/revisions\/138102"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/138103"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=138044"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=138044"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=138044"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}