The executive committee of the Poona Hoteliers Association (PHA) met the city’s Police Commissioner, Amitabh Gupta, and requested him to take stringent action against the copyright bodies Novex and Phonographic Performance Ltd (PPL). The association members stated that these two agencies extort money from clients and harass hotels during marriages and marriage-related social functions at these venues.
PHA was represented by its President Sharan Shetty along with Amit Sharma from Amanora The Fern, Suju Krishnan from Taj Blue Diamond, Sanjay Singh from Radisson Blu, Vikram Shetty from Sadanand Regency and Sumit Kumar from Hyatt Pune, amongst others.
Noting that there are specific orders regarding this issue, the Police Commissioner noted that he will ensure that these agencies will be booked for these misdemeanors. An FIR was registered by Pune city police against PPL and Novex Communications for extortion, cheating and conspiracy.
PHA members stated that field officers from the agencies allegedly used to make organisers of weddings at hotels pay hefty amounts after threatening various provisions under the Copyright Act for not obtaining a license before playing songs of different companies.
Based on a complaint from Pramod Karamchandani, owner of Venus Traders Stationery, Koregaon Park police station has booked directors, office-bearers, field officers of the two companies, and charged them for offences under sections 384, 385, 420, 120B and 34 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
Section 52 of the Copyright Act 1957 enlists certain acts which do not constitute an infringement of Copyright. Subsection (1) (za) of this section states, “The performance of a literary, dramatic, or musical work or the communication to the public o such work or a sound recording in the course of any bona fide religious ceremony or an official ceremony held by the Central Government or the state government or any local authority.” This includes religious ceremonies including a marriage procession and other social festivities associated with a marriage.
According to a report in a news report, Senior Police Inspector Rajendra Mohite stated that Karamchandani had booked a hall at Hotel Conrad at Bund Garden for a wedding ceremony in the family. The office-bearers of the two companies reached the venue and demanded a no-objection certificate (NOC) and license for playing songs. They took INR 89,600 from Karamchandani for the NOC and license. In another incident, they had taken INR 47,400 from Rahul Manoj Shirodkar who had also organised a family function at Hotel Conrad.
The complainants told police that the NOC and license issued by the companies did not mention the wedding but stated that the amount was taken for the DJ party and the get-together.
Police officials said that people have been duped similarly at Hotel Blue Diamond, JW Marriott, etc on different dates during wedding functions. The companies are not authorised by government to collect license fees, police said.
PPL claims to owns and/or controls the Public Performance rights of 400+ music labels, with more than 4.5 million international and domestic sound recordings. Under the Copyright Act 1957, every business entity or individual must receive permission from the copyright owners of the sound recording before any public performance takes place. PPL India enforces the rights of members by ensuring that businesses comply with the law and pay copyright holders for the music they consume.
Hoshiar Singh, Registrar of Copyrights, stated that in view of the provision contained in Subsection (1) (za) of the section 52 of the Copyright Right, it is evident that the utilisation of any sound recording in the course of religious ceremony including a marriage procession and other social festivities associated with a marriage does not amount to infringement of copyrights. Hence, no licence is required to be obtained for this purpose.
