Delhi High Court Restrains Singer 'Bohemia' From Making Sound Recordings With Third Parties Without Prior Approval Of Saga Music

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday restrained Pakistani-American rapper and singer Bohemia from engaging with third parties for making any sound recordings or musical works, without prior written approval of a Delhi based music company, Saga Music Private Limited.

Justice Anish Dayal also restrained Bohemia and his agents from posting any defamatory posts or content on social media platforms against the music company which claims that the singer violated terms and conditions of a performance agreement entered between them in 2019.

The court passed the ex parte ad interim injunction order in favour of the music company in its suit alleging that it has rights on the literary and musical works and sound recordings created by Bohemia exclusively or in collaboration with third parties for 45 months, as per the agreement.

The music company sought to restrain Bohemia and other third party music producers from infringing its copyright that accrue in its favour by virtue of the agreement with the singer.

It was the music company's case that Bohemia and other music producers violated the terms and conditions of the agreement entered between it and the singer as the songs were produced with third parties which was not permitted.

The suit stated that the terms of the agreement stated that Bohemia will engage exclusively with Saga Music for 45 months and will not, during the that time, perform for other music producers throughout the world.

It was also stated that if the singer wished to engage with third parties, it would first contact Saga Music and the revenue would be equally distributed between them.

The suit claimed that Bohemia agreed that Saga Music would solely be the exclusive owner of all the intellectual property rights including copyright in the songs and performances performed during the term of agreement.

Senior Advocate Akhil Sibal appearing for Saga Music submitted that Bohemia failed to abide by the terms and conditions of the agreement and also failed to make any performance for the music company, despite advance payment.

It was also submitted that there were various incidents of breach of agreement including not updating Saga Music about the musical shows and uploading of audio songs on YouTube channels.

It was also submitted that Saga Music lost the ability to monezite the performances of Bohemia who breached the terms of the agreement repeatedly by making songs for other producers.

It was also submitted that the music company was subjected to disparagement and adverse comments which caused it irreparable harm in the music industry.

Justice Dayal said that a prima facie case was made out in favour of Saga Music for grant of ex parte ad interim relief and balance of convenience was also in its favour.

The court issued notice on the application seeking interim injunction in the suit and listed the matter for further hearing on February 23.

Saga Music was represented by Senior Advocate Akhil Sibal, along with Advocates Nikhil Chawla, Shivank Pratap Singh, Asavari Jain and Adityaraj Patodia.

Title: SAGA MUSIC PRIVATE LIMITED v. ROGER DAVID & ORS.

Citation: 2024 LiveLaw (Del) 58