The Madras High Court has directed TVK Cultural Academy to either pay royalty and licence fees to the Indian Performing Right Society (IPRS) for two music events scheduled in Chennai or face restraint from conducting the programmes.
Court passed the interim order in a copyright infringement suit filed by IPRS over the alleged unauthorised use of copyrighted musical works during live performances.
Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy, by an order dated April 29, 2026, said the organiser would not be permitted to proceed with the events unless it either paid the amount claimed by IPRS or created a fixed deposit in favour of the registrar general of the high court.
The dispute concerns two programmes, “Isai Kondattam” scheduled on May 3 and “Nothing But Rajaa” scheduled on May 24. According to IPRS, the events involved performances of musical works from its repertoire without obtaining the mandatory licence from the copyright society.
What Did the Madras High Court Say About Payment of Music Royalty Fees?
Answering the immediate question of whether the events could proceed without payment of licence fees, the high court said they could not. Court recorded that IPRS had demanded Rs 75,000 plus GST per programme towards royalty and licence fees.
During the hearing, counsel for TVK Cultural Academy Advocate S. Giritharan submitted that the organiser was not in a position to make the payment, although a sum of Rs 12,000 plus GST had earlier been paid for the May 3 event.
Court noted that IPRS is a registered copyright society under the Copyright Act, 1957, and that it had fixed tariffs for different categories of public performances. Taking note of the invoice raised by the society, court restrained the organiser from proceeding with the events unless the licence amount was paid or secured before the court.
The matter has been posted for further hearing on June 17, 2026.
Why Did IPRS Move Court Against TVK Cultural Academy?
According to IPRS, the dispute arose from a series of live events organised by TVK Cultural Academy across Chennai where copyrighted musical works from the IPRS catalogue were allegedly performed without obtaining the requisite authorisation.
The copyright society said the order reinforced the legal requirement that organisers of commercial live events must obtain prior licences before using copyrighted songs and compositions.
IPRS Chief Executive Officer Rakesh Nigam said the order marked another step towards ensuring that creator rights were treated as an integral part of the entertainment business ecosystem. He stated that while IPRS generally sought voluntary compliance through engagement and awareness, legal action became necessary where licensing requirements were repeatedly ignored.
Rakshit Talwar, Head of Public Performance at IPRS, said music was central to audience engagement and commercial value in live events, and therefore could not be treated merely as a procedural formality.
IPRS is India’s registered copyright society for musical and literary works associated with music and represents more than 20,000 composers, lyricists and publishers. Its members include A. R. Rahman, Javed Akhtar and Gulzar, apart from music labels such as Saregama and T-Series.
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Case Title: The Indian Performing Right Society Limited v. TVK Cultural Academy & Ors.
Order Date: April 29, 2026
Bench: Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source lawbeat.in ’
