Injunction issued against Santhush Weeraman

• The Defendants have re-produced the said song for a commercial purpose without any lawful right or permission  

By Lakmal Sooriyagoda   

The Colombo Commercial High Court has issued an interim injunction against four defendants including popular music artist Santhush Weeraman and Saregama Music (Pvt) Limited for allegedly violating the copyrights of the song ‘Me Bajar Ekata Malli’ owned by renowned award-winning musician, composer and singer Dr. Rohana Weerasinghe.   

Colombo Commercial High Court Judge K. Priyantha Fernando issued this order, restraining four defendants including Santhush Weeraman from publishing, advertising, reproducing and selling the song titled ‘Me Bajar Ekata Malli’. This order will be effective until the final determination of the petition.   

Dr. Rohana Weerasinghe, who is the musical composer of the popular song ‘Me Bajar Ekata Malli’ had filed this application in Colombo Commercial High Court under the Intellectual Property Act No. 36 of 2003 against Saregama Music (Pvt) Limited, Saregama Films (Pvt) Limited, Santhush Weeraman and Ceylon Cold Stores PLC for violating his intellectual property rights.   

The plaintiff, Dr. Rohana Weerasinghe is the musical composer of the popular song ‘Me Bajar Ekata Malli’. The lyricist and the vocalist of the song are Prof. Sunil Ariyaratne and Gayan Perera, respectively. The plaintiff states that the song was first released in Sri Lanka on 23rd October 2015. The song was created for the film titled ‘Address Na’ (No Address), a film by Jackson Anthony and produced by Janitha Marasingha.   
Dr. Weerasinghe stated that being the copyright owner of the said song, the plaintiff only granted permission to use the said song solely for the film titled ‘Address Na’.   

On or around 23rd December 2020, it was brought to the attention of the plaintiff that, the said song which was created by the Plaintiff has been reproduced and distorted by the defendants by uploading the song on their YouTube channel via Elephant House Cream Soda Pop Studio Youtube Channel, in which the song was sung by an amateur singer named Siyum Sandeep.   

Dr. Weerasinghe alleged that the Defendants have re-produced the said song for a commercial purpose without any lawful right or permission.   

President’s Counsel Chandaka Jayasundere with Counsel Vishmi Fernando and Rukmal Cooray appeared for the plaintiff.   

President’s Counsel Harsha Amarasekara with Senior Counsel G.G. Arulpragasam appeared for the first to third defendants. Counsel Kanchana Peiris appeared for the fourth Defendant.