T-Series Copyright Suit: Delhi HC Directs Goldmines Telefilms to Restrain from Uploading Bollywood Songs

The Delhi High Court has recently directed the Goldmines Telefilms, a production house, to restrained from uploading songs on YouTube from 14 Bollywood movies, which T-Series claims to hold copyright over.

T-Series, a prominent music production company with 247 million YouTube subscribers, has taken legal action against Goldmines, known for its significant presence in production and dubbing, and boasting 87.7 million YouTube subscribers.

A single bench of Justice Prathiba M Singh passed this order during the hearing of T-Series’ lawsuit seeking to prevent Goldmines from uploading songs from movies such as Vaastav, Diljale, and Guru.

T-Series asserted that it possesses prior assignment deeds pertaining to the disputed songs. The company argued that Goldmines lacks the authority to authorize the upload of these songs on YouTube. Although certain videos have been removed from the platform, T-Series contended that numerous songs persist on Goldmines’ channel.

Goldmines, in response, contended that it has also acquired rights to these cinematograph films from the producers or related parties, thereby entitling it to exploit the songs.

T-Series countered by emphasizing the precedence of its assignments of audio-visual works. Therefore, it argued that producers would not possess the right to assign to Goldmines rights that have already been granted to T-Series.

Upon careful examination, Justice Singh acknowledged that the Court must determine the extent of T-Series’ exclusive rights to the songs. Additionally, the Court will assess whether Goldmines has the autonomy to exploit audio-visual songs, which are integral to cinematograph films, on platforms like YouTube.

The Court has issued a notice regarding the interim injunction application and has requested Goldmines to furnish its assignment deeds and a response.