In the case of Phonographic Performance Limited v Al-Hamd Tradenation, Phonographic Performance Limited (PPL) filed a civil suit against Al-Hamd Tradenation (Al-Hamad) in the Delhi High Court, seeking to restrain Al-Hamad from infringing PPL’s copyrighted works/sound recordings in an event without obtaining a requisite license from PPL.
PPL contented that Al-Hamad had refused to take a proper license at PPL’s current tariff rate, instead offering a significantly lower amount and even threatening to file a petition seeking compulsory licensing if PPL did not agree to issue license to Al-Hamad at the reduced rate.
Al-Hamad contented that the license fee quoted by PPL was unreasonable and that it had already filed a petition for compulsory license before the Court. Compulsory licensing for copyrighted work allows the use of such works by paying a fee determined by the Court.
The Court remarked that PPL’s copyright in the sound recordings must be protected and directed that if Al-Hamad wishes to use these recordings, it should approach PPL for obtaining license and pay license fees, as demanded by PPL.
This decision underscores that filing of a petition seeking compulsory license in plaintiff’s copyrighted works by a defendant cannot be basis in itself to deny protection to plaintiff’s copyrighted works and permit the defendant to exploit such works without paying the requisite license fee to the plaintiff.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Deepak Gogia
Deepak Gogia is a Partner with K&S Partners and has over 25 years of experience in patent litigation.
- dgogia@knspartners.com