Rakshit Shetty asked to pay Rs 25 lac by the Delhi High Court over a case of copyright infringement
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "Rakshit Shetty asked to pay Rs 25 lac by the Delhi High Court over a case of copyright infringement")
Rakshit Shetty in Bachelor Party Photograph: (X)
Kannada actor Rakshit Shetty and his production house Paramvah Studios have been asked to pay a fine of Rs 25 lac to a music label for using its two songs in the film Bachelor Party without proper permission and license in place.
Kannada star Rakshit Shetty’s production house, Paramvah Studios, has been asked by the Delhi High Court to pay a fine of Rs 25 Lakh for the unauthorised use of two songs in Shetty’s Kannada film Bachelor Party. Justice Tejas Karia held the studio liable for copyright infringement and willful disobedience of court directions.
The makers had defended, claiming that the musical usage was too "minimal" to require a license.
“In any event, the use of the Original Works in the Impugned Film was not minimal as the song ‘Omme Ninnanu’ was incorporated for a substantial 31 seconds, whereas the song ‘Nyaya Ellide’ was used for 7 seconds.”
What does the Copyright Act say?
As per Section 14(d)(i)(A) of the Copyright Act, even a single photograph of any image forming part of the film is an exclusive right of the copyright owner and, therefore, “the Defendants could not have used even a single frame of any song for even a second without permission of the Plaintiff," the Court held.
Shetty asked to pay up
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According to a report in the Bar & Bench, the court stopped short of sending Shetty to the jail. Instead, asked him and his studio to pay Rs 5 lakh to purge contempt of its orders.
"However, upon consideration of the Affidavit dated 31.10.2025 submitted by Defendant Nos. 1 and 2 expressing regret for their actions, the Court is inclined to exercise leniency. Rather than imposing simple imprisonment on Defendant No. 2 for contempt of the Order dated 12.08.2024, Defendant Nos. 1 and 2 are directed to remit an exemplary cost of ₹5,00,000/- to the Plaintiff within two weeks to purge the contempt committed."
What’s the case?
A music label called MRT Music, claimed ownership over the two songs, including their sound recordings and underlying literary and musical works in court and produced an assignment deed as proof. The songs were created in 2020.
The music label alleged that the songs were used in Bachelor Party without a proper licence.
One of the songs was played on a television in a scene in the film, while the other was sung in a classroom sequence to support the narrative. The film was released theatrically in January 2024 and later made available on OTT platforms.
On August 12, 2024, the Court passed an interim order directing the defendants to deposit Rs 20 lakh within four weeks and take down infringing content. However, the makers did not pay and continued to exploit the works, leading MRT Music to initiate contempt proceedings.
The defendants subsequently deposited the amount during the course of the proceedings, but the delay in compliance formed the basis of the contempt action.
Shetty and Paramvah Studios argued the use was "de minimis" (minimal), noting that "Nyaya Ellide" appeared for only 7 seconds and "Omme Ninnanu" for 31 seconds.
However, the court observed that the creative intent was infringed and the duration did not matter.
While Shetty's legal team stated that the usage of the two songs were "incidental" or “irrelevant”, the court shut down the argument stating that the songs were carefully selected to drive the movie's narrative.