SC gives Copyright Board 4 months to resolve royalty spat
MUMBAI: An unexpected observation by the Supreme Court early this month might speed up the process of music royalty hearings by the Copyright Board, believes the industry.
Both the radio and the music industries are of the opinion that the Supreme Court intervention might accelerate the pace of the Copyright Board hearings initiated in 2008
Before the Copyright hearings resumed on 17 May 2010 , the Copyright Board on 13 May was directed by the Supreme Court to resolve the impending music royalty issue within four months. This direction from the Supreme Court was the result of the ongoing litigation between Phonographic Performance Ltd (PPL) versus Midday Multimedia's radio venture Radio One
Confirms PPL COO Suresh Srinivasan, The unexpected observation by the Supreme Court was delivered during a routine appeal against Radio One filed by PPL. While disposing the matter, the Court directed the board to dispose the case in four months....
The radio and music industry are now hopeful that this intervention will speed up the process of Copyright Board hearing. As Association of Radio Operators for India (AROI) head Music Royalty Committee and Radio Mantra director Rahul Gupta states, We are hopeful that as per the Supreme Court's direction, the issue gets sorted by September....
In the mean time, the cross examinations of all the witnesses from the music and radio industries ended in the last hearing from 17 to 21 May. Among the six radio witnesses cross examined included Music Broadcast Private Limited (MBPL)'s Radio City, ENIL's Radio Mirchi, Shri Puran Multimedia's Radio Mantra, Synergy Media's My FM, Rajasthan Patrika's Radio Tadka and Mi d day Multimedia's Radio One
Four witnesses from the music industry to be cross examined were a representative from PPL, two executives from music labels- Sony Music and Venus and a Delhi based music dealer.
Post the cross examinations, the legal representatives of both the industries will initiate arguments. The Copyright hearing will conduct continuous daily hearings from second week of July 2010 and seek redressal to the impending music royalty tussle
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