Kajal Aggarwal loses court battle against an oil company

The Madras High Court has dismissed the actress, Kajal Aggarwal’s plea of restraining an oil manufacturing company not to use a commercial advertisement she has endorsed in for more than a year.

Kajal Aggarwal has signed an agreement with VVD and Sons Private Limited back in 2008 to feature in an advertisement. The actress sought the court and demanded additional royalty since the company has used the advertisement for more than a year.

A division bench of Justice M M Sundresh and Justice N Anand Venkatesh upheld a single judge order adding that the first owner of the copyright was VVD.

Dismissing the plea of additional royalty, “A person who becomes the first owner of the copyright for his entire work, has been conferred with a statutory right for a period of 60 years over the cinematography of the film,” the bench said.

The judges added, “This statutory right cannot be taken away by a performer in the cinematograph film by virtue of an agreement. Hence, we hold that VVD is entitled to exploit the work for the entire term prescribed under Section 26 of the Copyright Act and is not restricted for a period of one year by the agreement.”

The Court announces that unless the holder renounces the right by a written agreement, the restraining of copyright claims could not be upheld.

“In the instant case, there are absolutely no materials to fix the entitlement of Kajal in terms of royalties. In the result, original side appeal stands dismissed”, the bench said.

Credits: Times of India