End to `Krazzy4' row; film set for release with all songs [India]

Bollywood film `Krazzy4' is set for release on Friday with all song sequences after an advertisement-jingle composer and producer Rakesh Roshan reached a "settlement" shortly after the Mumbai High Court ordered deletion of two songs on plagiarism charges.

After a victory in the Bombay High Court, composer Ram Sampath reached a settlement with producer Rakesh Roshan and gave his consent for the movie's release with all the songs, which were embroiled in the legal case.

Earlier in the day, High Court had upheld Sampath's case prima facie, restraining Roshan from releasing the movie with the songs. Sampath had claimed that his tunes had been copied for two songs--`Krazzy4' (title song) and `Break-free'--and their remixed versions.

But in the afternoon, Sampath reached a settlement with Roshan, and both the parties approached Justice D G Karnik for revocation of his earlier order.
"I won the case, and then we settled the matter "inside the court", Sampath told PTI.

"We went back to the Judge, and got the (earlier) order vacated," he added.
However, he declined to divulge the terms of the settlement. "Once we end the case formally, the settlement will be in the public domain," the composer said.

Sampath's case was that his tunes for the advertisement for Sony Ericsson cell-phones was copied by music composer and Rakesh's brother Rajesh Roshan.

Though the amount that FilmKraft will have to pay as damages to the petitioner is not known, at the end of the day, Bollywood would now perhaps agree that one will really have to be Krazzy in Bollywood to copy ever again!

Two Krazzy4 songs a copy: Mumbai HC [India]

The Bombay High Court today ruled that two songs in forthcoming Hindi film "Krazzy4" are a copy of earlier compositions by jingle composer Ram Sampath and restrained producer Rakesh Roshan from releasing the movie with the songs.

The movie can be released without the songs in question, Justice D G Karnik said. "To my untrained ear, the music (in two works) appeared to be similar", Justice Karnik, who listened to both Sampath's work for a Sony Ericsson cellphone advertisement, and the two songs composed by Rajesh Roshan for the film, said.

The film was due for release tomorrow.

Krazzy 4 receives copyright infringement notice from jingle composer [India]

Hrithik Roshan’s latest chartbuster item song, Krazzy4, has courted legal trouble. Music composer Ram Sampath has dragged Hrithik’s director father Rakesh Roshan and uncle, Rajesh Roshan, to court, alleging that they have “directly lifted” his music for the Krazzy4 album.
Sampath, 32, who has composed music for over 3,000 advertisements, music tracks of films like Khakee and Let’s Talk, and even done a remix for pop sensation Justin Timberlake, has filed a suit for copyright infringement in Bombay High Court. He has alleged that four tracks from Krazzy4 were “direct lifts” from the music he had composed for an advertisement titled ‘Thump’ for Sony Ericsson phones in March 2007.

Ironically, the mobile phone ad campaign too featured Hrithik and his sinewy dance moves. Krazzy4, a comedy produced by Rakesh Roshan featuring four crazy guys, is slated for release on April 11. Sampath, who was present in court on Monday with his wife, singer Sona Mahapatra, asked the court to restrain the Roshans from using the “plagiarised music” and sought Rs2 crore in damages. Justice DG Karnik, who heard the matter on Monday, would hear the music in his chamber on Tuesday to ascertain the allegations. Hearing of the case would continue on Wednesday. The Roshans have denied the claims of copyright infringement and plagiarism. “Irrespective of the outcome, somebody will have to face the music,” quipped advocate general Ravi Kadam, who is representing one of the Roshans.The trouble began in March when Sampath heard the title track of Krazzy4 being played on a music channel. His lawyer Virendra Tulzapurkar said that his client bought a CD of the album and was shocked to find that the title track, a song titled ‘Break Free’ and their remix versions were “directly lifted” from his music for ‘Thump’ without taking his permission or giving him any credit. In fact, credit for the music has been given to music composer Rajesh Roshan.Claiming to be the composer and the sole owner of music rights of ‘Thump’, Sampath has also objected to the “plagiarised music” being broadcast worldwide.

"Verbatim copying"; a requirement for infringement rules US Court

You can copyright your words, not your ideas—and in an erudite opinion concerning two consulting firms duelling, a federal judge amplified that longstanding principle.
Judge William G. Young of the US District Court for the District of Massachusetts dismissed a copyright infringement suit brought by Situation Management Systems (SMS) against ASP Consulting Group, despite finding that that ASP did copy SMS’s workbooks.

“The ruling appears to limit claims of copyright infringement of business publications to instances of near verbatim copying,” said James J. Foster, a senior litigator with Wolf, Greenfield & Sacks, P.C., in Boston, which represented ASP.

“The backdrop to this suit is a bitter struggle between a company and its former employees,” Young wrote. Two ex-SMS employees, who helped create SMS’s workbooks, went on to become ASP’s cofounders. ASP charged that the pair infringed the copyright of three of its workbooks when they created similar SMS workbooks.

Young ruled that they did copy, but changed the wording sufficiently: “the copying is not actionable because ASP’s works are not substantially similar.”

Young’s witty 33-page decision quotes many sources on copyright and even tosses in a Shakespeare sonnet.