The Bombay high court on Friday passed an interim injunction order against five prominent hotels — JW Marriot, Canvas (Lounge Bar), Ramada, Mahape, Abbot and Marine Centre — asking them to pay the licence fees to the copyright society for playing music at the New Year’s Eve celebrations organised at these hotels.
The society has set a deadline of 12 pm on Saturday for accepting the payment, failing which they will stop the event.
The Phonographic Performance Ltd. (PPL), the apex-licensing arm of the Indian Music Industry (IMI), had sent legal notices to several hotels that had not paid the license fees. After some of them did not respond to the notice, the body had moved court.
“We are normally closed for the weekend. But as an exception, we shall remain open on Saturday till 12 noon to collect the fees from those who have not paid so far. We have received oral assurances from some of them who said that they are willing to pay up. But we will not accept any payment after 12 pm on Saturday and will seek police help to stop the events,” said Soumya Chaudhry, country head of PPL. Speaking on the issue, Vipul Pradhan, CEO of the PPL said, “A significant component of the sum charged from the customers for these events, is for music. Therefore, the music companies whose sound recording is regularly used, have a right towards claiming their due because their product gets consumed too.”