IPRS Hits All Right Notes By Demanding Royalty From Vodafone

Introduction

Music is the universal language that connects people from all over the world despite linguistic and cultural differences, soothes the soul, and rejuvenates the mind. It is one thing to hear it as an individual and an entirely different thing if the same music is used to reach out to masses unauthorizedly and make profit out of it. In the recent case of Vodafone Idea v. Saregama & Anr.¹, the Hon'ble High Court of Calcutta upheld the rights of the author and issued an injunction order against Vodafone, including its officers, employees, agents, and representatives, as well as anyone acting on their behalf, and thereby prohibited them from performing, authorizing, or communicating to the public any part of IPRS's collection of musical and literary works, or from committing any other act that infringed on IPRS's copyright in these works, without obtaining a valid license and paying royalties to IPRS.