Mumbai: The Hotel and Restaurant Association of Western India (HRAWI) has welcomed the judgment of The Hon’ble Bombay High Court on Thursday restraining Novex Communication from granting license or demanding license fee in respect of any copyrighted works or broadcast reproduction rights. Café Leopold and Hotel Unicontinental had filed a suit in the Bombay High Court after receiving notices by Novex.

“We are pleased with the verdict.  This is a landmark order by the Hon’ble Bombay High Court with great ramifications. It is a victory not only for the hoteliers but also the large number of hotel guests and diners who visit hotels and restaurants,” said Mr. D.S.Advani, President, HRAWI.

Earlier, Novex Communications Pvt Ltd had sent notices to hotels that Novex had been authorized to administer and grant Public Performance Rights for various audio, musical compositions and sound recordings from the libraries of (1) M/s. Yash Raj Films Private Limited, (2) M/s. Shemaroo Entertainment Private Limited, (3) M/s. UTV Software Communications Limited and (4) M/s. Big Net Communications Private Limited, and that commercial establishments will have to pay them a license fee to play or telecast of such material.

“Contesting the notification, Café Leopold and Hotel Unicontinental had approached the High Court, which granted an ad-interim Injunction/Stay Order against Novex Communications, restrained it from making any demands for obtaining license or payment of license fee. The order also restrained collection of license fee on the broadcast reproduction rights of Multi Screen Media Pvt. Ltd./ MSM Discovery Pvt. Ltd which includes the channel SONY SIX on which the FIFA World Cup matches are being telecast,” said Mr. Paramjit Ghai, Owner of Hotel Unicontinental.

Re-emphasizing the fact that Novex communication itself was undertaking illegal act he added, “The Association has always been of the view that Novex Communication has no authority to make any of the above demands, and the same are unlawful. The order of the Hon’ble Bombay High Court has vindicated the stand of the Association that Novex has been illegally carrying on the business of a copyright society without obtaining any registration under the Copyright Act, 1957, and has been making wrongful demands on hotels and restaurants across the country.”

“In so far as playing recorded music in the establishment is concerned, we have advised all our members to obtain appropriate licenses from the registered copyright society or the Copyright owner directly, as the case may be,” says Mr. Gurbaxish Singh Kohli, Vice-President, HRAWI.

“As for displaying cable feeds at the establishment is concerned, our members have paid necessary fees to the Local Cable Operator/ DTH operator. They are part of the amenities or facilities being offered to the guests. Novex’s demand for additional license fees over and above the fees being paid to the cable operators is unjustified and illegal,” he added.

The exceptions to the rules of broadcasting at any commercial establishment are that, these establishment if are selling tickets or charging entry fee to display the cable feed such as the FIFA World Cup matches or if they are recording the cable feed and are playing the same at a later date, then they may be required to pay separate fees for the same.

“Hotels and Restaurants provide music and entertainment like screening of matches as a part of their ambiance, which is an amenity not charged by us to our guests. These essentials for dinners or room guests should not be commercially exploited by any agency. Our fight against such juxtapositions for the past so many years has brought an end to the harassment faced by our members. For now, we are requesting all our members from refraining to pay any monies to Novex and have requested those who may have already paid any, to inform us about the same so as to take further action,” said Mr. Kamlesh Barot, Immediate Past-President, HRAWI.

“It has been our consistent stand that when patron watches any program on TV in Hotels / Restaurants, there is no commercial exploitation. There has been tremendous growth of such unscrupulous agencies indulging in copyright licensing illegally thereby causing great harassment to the Hotel Industry. The Court has at this stage held that Novex is not authorized under law to demand / collect fees at all. Hotels merely display matches etc as part of their amenity for no extra cost. This order is a welcome relief in the era where TV is very much a socio-cultural requirement / necessity at all places for the benefit of public,” concluded Mr Pradeep Shetty, Hon Secretary – Hotel and Restaurant Association Western India

Source : Lokesh Shastri