Enjoining Order against Santhush Weeraman further extended

The Colombo Commercial High Court yesterday further extended its enjoining order issued 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 Priyantha Fernando extended the enjoining order until August 26, restraining four defendants including Santhush Weeraman from publishing, advertising, reproducing and selling the song titled ‘Me Bajar Ekata Malli’ on any internet or social media platforms. The defendants were directed to file their objections on August 26.   

Dr. Rohana Weerasinghe, who is the musical composer of the popular song ‘Me Bajar Ekata Malli’ had filed this application in the 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.