Ilaiyaraaja appears in Court

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Veteran music composer Ilaiyaraaja on Feb 13 appeared before the Madras High Court over a legal dispute involving his compositions and a music company that claims rights over his scores from around 109 films.

In 1997, a company named Music Master signed an agreement with the legendary music composer, obtaining the rights to release songs from films such as Thevar Magan, Pandiyan, and Gunaa, 109 films in total.

Music Master also stated in its petition that these songs must not be used even as ringtones, as the company claimed full ownership over them.

Ilaiyaraaja appeared before the High Court on Fb 13 to record his statement as a witness in the case. He argued that the 1997 agreement made no mention of YouTube or social media and covered only audio cassettes.

He also pointed out that YouTube and the internet did not exist at the time of the agreement.

Ilaiyaraaja further stated that he owns the full rights to his compositions and has never given producers the copyrights to his songs. He clarified that any agreement signed so far has only been a licence to use his songs.