MRT Music, one of the leading record labels from the South (KGF Chapter 2) files a case against Indian National Congress for copyright infringement

Ads featuring Rahul Gandhi were released by INC for their marketing campaign with music from MRT Music without seeking any permissions, full statements below

MRT Music, a Bangalore based record label holding music rights of over 20,000+ Tracks in Kannada, Hindi, Telugu and Tamil etc. who has invested huge sums of money to acquire classic old music to one of the biggest movies of the year “KGF Chapter 2” in Hindi. However the Indian National Congress has picked up the songs from this movie and without seeking MRT Music’s permission/license in any manner whatsoever has used these songs to create their marketing videos of their very latest “Bharat Jodo Yatra” campaign featuring “Rahul Gandhi” and now due to this infringement the Indian national congress and its office bearers are liable under both civil and criminal law for infringement of the copyright and are offences punishable under sections 425, 463, 464, 465, 471, 120B r/w Section 34 of the IPC and under Section 43 of the Information Technology Act, 2000 and under Section 64. Copyrights Act, 1957.

Note from the Music Label's Counsel : Narasimhan Sampath, Partner & Pranav Kumar Mysore, Partner NSK Attorneys.

Our Client MRT Music is one of the most popular, well reputed and respected regional music companies in India and is engaged in the business of producing and/ or acquiring cinematograph films, songs, music albums, videos etc., in various languages.

The present complaint has been filed against the Indian National Congress represented by its General Secretary, Sri Jairam Ramesh, Smt. Supriya Shrinate, Sri Rahul Gandhi for infringement of copyrights owned by MRT Music.

Based on the complaint submitted by MRT Music, the Police have proceeded to register a FIR in Crime No. 362/2022 for offences punishable under sections 403, 465 and 120B r/w Section 34 of the IPC and under Section 66 of the Information Technology Act, 2000 and under Section 63 of the Copyrights Act, 1957 as against the Indian National Congress and the aforementioned individuals who have been arrayed as Accused no. 1 to 3 respectively.

The Complaint mainly pertains to the unlawful fraudulent and illegal actions of the members of the steering committee in so far as violating the copyrights owned by MRT Music. The INC has created a video by unlawfully downloading and synchronising and broadcasting the songs pertaining to the movie KGF – Chapter 2 in Hindi and portraying it to be owned by the INC. They have also used a logo namely “Bharath Jodo Yatra” in the said video and have broadcasted the same on their official social media handles.

These unlawful actions committed by a National Political Party reflects their blatant disregard to the rule of law and the rights of private individuals and entities while they are conducting this Bharath Jodo Yatra to seek an opportunity to govern the county and frame legislations for protecting the rights of the common man and businesses.

MRT Music being a private entity engaged in the business of producing and/ or acquiring cinematograph films, songs, music albums, videos etc., in various languages, the only asset which it possesses is the copyrights owned by it.

MRT Music has filed the present complaint only to enforce its statutory rights and has no intentions to tarnish the image of any political party.

Official statement from the Music Label : M Naveen Kumar, Partner, MRT Music

In the digital world today our Intellectual property guarded by the Copyright Act is pivotal to us and to our utter shock, we recently came across videos posted by the Indian National Congress (INC) party wherein videos featuring Mr. Rahul Gandhi, Member, Steering Committee, Indian National Congress, without seeking our permission/license has used them to further their own political agenda and for marketing and publicity. The infringed videos were also broadcasted / posted by the INC on their official social handles and can also be found on all social media platforms. An entity such as the INC has to set an example for the Indian citizens, however in this scenario, it itself is violating the laws of the land and infringing our copyright and intellectual property rights, which we have acquired through huge investments. This act on the part of INC sends a completely wrong signal to the Indian public and is completely contrary to the efforts of safeguarding our copyrights. This grave infringement will be challenged by us to the fullest effort.