Sony sues Ashtavinayak

Music label company Sony BMG has filed a case in the Mumbai High Court against Shree Ashtvinayak Films alleging that the song Jab Se Tere Naina has been illegally used in their superhit film Golmaal Returns.

In a statement through their publicist Sony said, “The composition and the lyrics of the song from Saawariya have been used in multiple scenes of the film Golmaal Returns without any permission or license from Song BMG who own all rights to the song.” Sony feels the tunes were used with obvious references to Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Saawariya.

Sony further stated that the company had sent several notices to Shree Ashtavinayak Cinevision asking them to take permission for the use of the song. The first notice was sent on November 3, to which there was no response from Ashtavinayak. They add that they had again sent a notice on November 7 to which Ashtavinayak had replied refuting the claims made by Sony. Sony then decided to file a case against Shree Ashtvinayak Films and named the worldwide distributors of the movie - the Indian Film Company and the Home video licensees — Moser Baer as co- defendants. When contacted, a spokesperson from Ashtavinayak informed, “We agree that a case was filed against us by Sony but the High Court has rejected their claims.”