Overview

• A Division Bench of Justices C. Hari Shankar and Om Prakash Shukla allowed A.R. Rahman’s appeal, setting aside the single judge’s interim injunction and the order to deposit Rs 2 crore.
• The bench clarified it was not ruling on copyright infringement, with a detailed written judgment awaited.
• The court indicated that evidence of the or DagaDagar Brothers performing ‘Shiva Stuti’ could not, by itself, establish authorship, rejecting the presumption used below.
• In April, the single-judge order had found ‘Veera Raja Veera’ effectively identical to ‘Shiva Stuti’, directed revised credits to the Dagar composers, awarded Rs 2 lakh in costs, and required a Rs 2 crore deposit.
• Ustad Faiyaz Wasifuddin Dagar claims rights in the 1970s ‘Shiva Stuti’ composition, while Rahman and the producers argue the material is traditional and not protectable, leaving the core dispute unresolved.