MRT Music files a case against INC for copyright infringement

MRT Music, a Bangalorebased record label holding music rights to over 20,000+ Tracks in Kannada, Hindi, Telugu and Tamil etc. Has invested huge sums of money to acquire classic old music to one of the biggest movies of the year ‘KGF Chapter 2’ in Hindi. Now, according to a case filed by the recording label, the Indian National Congress has picked up the song from this movie and without seeking MRT Music’s permission/license in any manner whatsoever has used it to create marketing videos for their very latest “Bharat Jodo Yatra” campaign featuring Rahul Gandhi. The statement passed by the label holds the Indian National Congress and its office bearers liable under both civil and criminal law for infringement of the copyright and are offences punishable under sections 425, 463, 464, 465, 471, 120B r/w Section 34 of the IPC and Section 43 of the Information Technology Act, 2000 and under Section 64. Copyrights Act, 1957.

The Music Label's Counsel, Narasimhan Sampath said in his official statement, “The Complaint mainly pertains to the unlawful fraudulent and illegal actions of the members of the steering committee in so far as violating the copyrights owned by MRT Music. The INC has created a video by unlawfully downloading and synchronising as well as broadcasting the songs about the movie KGF – Chapter 2 in Hindi and portraying it to be owned by the INC. They have also used a logo namely ‘Bharath Jodo Yatra’ in the said video and have broadcasted the same on their official social media handles.”

“These unlawful actions committed by a National Political Party reflect their blatant disregard for the rule of law and the rights of private individuals and entities while they are conducting this Bharath Jodo Yatra, to seek an opportunity to govern the county and frame legislation for protecting the rights of the common man and businesses,” he added.

Official statement from the Music Label Partner, M Naveen Kumar stated, “In the digital world today our Intellectual property guarded by the Copyright Act is pivotal to us and our utter shock, we recently came across videos posted by the Indian National Congress (INC) party wherein videos featuring Rahul Gandhi, Member, Steering Committee, Indian National Congress, without seeking our permission/license is used to further their political agenda for marketing and publicity. The infringed videos were also broadcasted/posted by the INC on their official social handles and can also be found on all social media platforms. An entity such as the INC has to set an example for the Indian citizens, however, in this scenario, it is violating the laws of the land and infringing our copyright and intellectual property rights, which we have acquired through huge investments. This act on the part of INC sends a completely wrong signal to the Indian public and is completely contrary to the efforts of safeguarding our copyrights. This grave infringement will be challenged by us to the fullest effort.”