Delhi High Court Restrains Azure Hospitality From Playing Phonographic Performance Music Without License

Delhi High Court Restrains Azure Hospitality From Playing Phonographic Performance Music Without License

The owner of restaurants Mamagoto, Dhaba, Sly Granny and Fox Trot did not deny the charges

The Delhi High Court has restricted Azure Hospitality from playing songs owned by Phonographic Performance Limited (PPL) in their restaurants without a license.

Azure owns popular restaurants including Mamagoto, Dhaba, Sly Granny and Fox Trot.

The decision affirmed PPL's entitlement to issue licenses for their copyrighted songs under Section 30 of the Copyright Act. Azure infringed its copyright and was ordered cease the usage until the judgment.

The court held that PPL, the owner of the song’s copyright, was entitled to issue licenses for their use, even though it was not a registered copyright society.

The bench considered that providing a licence was an inherent right of a copyright owner under Section 30 and that Section 33(1) could not override it.

Meanwhile, Azure had not denied playing PPL's songs in its premises. This meant admitting to infringing the copyright.

Phonographic Performance Limited was represented by senior counsels Rajiv Nayar and Chander M Lall, along with Ankur Sangal, Partner, Khaitan & Co.

The team included Sucheta Roy, Principal Associate, Raghu Vinayak Sinha, Senior Associate, and Shaurya Pandey, Associate.