Bombay High Court judgment in Radio City's favour

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The Bombay High court in a judgment has stated that FM player Radio City would now have deal only with the Phonographic Performances Limited for obtaining a licence to play music on its staions and the Indian Performing Rights Society (IPRS) cannot claim or demand royalty or license fees for playing recorded music from it.

Music Broadcast Private Limited (MBPL), the parent company of Radio City had earlier in 2006 filed a case against Indian Performing Right Society claiming that the company had been paying IPRS royalties for broadcast of sound recordings under a mistaken belief of law for almost a decade.

MBPL also sought a refund of the Rs. 12.7 million which it claimed it had paid to IPRS as royalty/license fees from 1 August, 2003 to 31 July, 2006.

Terming the court's decision as a landmark judgment for the entire radio industry, Radio City 91.1 FM CEO, Apurva Purohit said that the judgment vindicates the station’s position on the actual ownership of the music played which means that the music labels/producers have bought the rights to all sound recordings.

However IPRS CEO Rakesh Nigam did not share the same opinion and termed the decision to be as "the most absurd judgment". He further added that will definitely go ahead and appeal as soon as possible.
 
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