Bombay HC Restrains Sports Authority Of India From Using Unlicensed Songs Of Phonograhic Performance Ltd At 'Horn Okay Please' Food Festival

In what could spell trouble for Delhi's popular food festival - 'Horn Ok Please', the Bombay High Court in an interim order on Tuesday (November 12) restrained the Sports Authority of India (SAI) from playing songs or music owned by the Phonograhic Performance Limited (PPL) without obtaining prior licence.

Notably, the Horn Ok Please festival will be held in SAI's Jawaharlal Nehru Sports Stadium in New Delhi on November 16 and 17.

A single bench of Justice Riyaz Chagla noted that the SAI has previously infringed the rights of the PPL by playing its recordings without obtaining licence.

"I am of the prima facie view that the SAI is indulging in infringing the copyright of the PPL in the sound recordings belonging to them, which requires to be injuncted. Further, unless SAI is restrained from playing sound recordings of PPL without obtaining licence for the said event to be held on November 16 and 17, 2024, the SAI will once again infringe PPL's copyright in the sound recordings," the high court said in its order. The bench was hearing an interim application filed by the PPL in a commercial suit seeking injunction against SAI.

The urgent ad-interim relief was sought on the ground that SAI is organizing “Horn Ok Please” on November 16 and 17 at Jawaharlal Nehru Sports Stadium owned/operated/managed by SAI which is apparent from the websites of insider.in and Instagram social platforms.

The PPL argued that SAI indulged in acts of infringement of copyright of sound recordings belonging to it, at an earlier event held on September 28 and 29 this year, where they played its sound recordings without obtaining any prior licence. This very event was also held in the Jawaharlal Nehru Sports Stadium in New Delhi, it said.

In its submissions, the PPL pointed out that it has issued "cease and desist notices" to the SAI, on September 7 and on November 8 calling upon the respondent authority to cease and desist from infringing the copyright of the plaintiff.

The high court thereafter passed the ad interim order that pending the final disposal of the suit, SAI and its employees, licensees, third party event management companies, or any person acting on its behalf are injuncted from "publicly performing or in any manner communicating the sound recordings of the songs authorised" to PPL without obtaining non-exclusive public performance rights in sound recordings from PPL.

Justice Chagla, while passing the ad-interim order, noted that the SAI did not responded to the "cease and desist" notices issued by the PPL. It therefore, passed the interim order, restraining the SAI from using PPL's music and sound recordings.

Matter would be further heard on November 28.

Case Title: Phonographic Performance Limited vs Sports Authority of India (Interim Application (L) 34177 of 2024)

Counsel for the Plaintiff: Advocates Amogh Singh, Asmant Nimbalkar, Neeraj Nawar, Mrunmayee Nagar and Anil Kumar Singh

Click Here To Read/Download Order