Indian singer Guru Randhawa sued for copyright infringement

Rolling Stone India reported recently that Indian music producer Vikram Shapribhan Singh, aka Vee, has filed a lawsuit in the Bombay High Court against popular Indian singer Guru Randhawa, T-Series, and Hungama Digital Media Entertainment Pvt. Ltd. claiming copyright infringement.

Vee alleged that T-Series used his sound recordings, musical works, and performances without obtaining prior permission and then claimed ownership of them, leading to significant and irreversible financial and reputational harm to Vee.

The issue dates back to December 2016, when Vee teamed with Randhawa with a promise of remuneration, writing credit, and a 50% share of publishing profits for his work.

However, none of these commitments were formalized into a written agreement.

Additionally, Vee claims he was not properly credited for several tracks, including the viral smash "High Rated Gabru,” and the situation worsened when a version of the song was featured in the 2018 film Nawabzaade.

Despite Vee’s considerable contributions he was only listed as a "music producer/arranger" for the song on YouTube and received no acknowledgment on any other sites.

Vee claims that the written copyright agreements were never executed for about 25 tracks that he created and produced for T-Series and other defendants, and as a result, he has not received compensation when the recordings are played anywhere in the world, despite repeated promises from the defendants.

The situation reached a tipping point in December 2022, when Vee discovered that he had been deleted as a "writer" in the Performing Rights Society’s metadata, impacting his ability to claim or collect royalties. Previous erroneous credits have since been fully erased from other Digital Service Providers also streaming the works.

In response to the alleged violations, Vee purportedly launched a lawsuit against the defendants for benefitting unfairly from his work and purposely withholding proper credit.

In the lawsuit, he also claims that several of the stated songs, such as "High Rated Gabru," "Lahore," "Patola," and "Surma Surma," have since been removed from YouTube entirely.

In a statement to Rolling Stone India, Vee said, “After years of exercising patience and restraint and trusting in the relationships I had, I have now been constrained to institute legal proceedings to enforce my rights. I put my faith in the legal system to protect my works and my rights.”

Rolling Stone India contacted T Series, Hungama Digital Media Entertainment Pvt. Ltd., and Randhawa’s team for comments, but none was offered by any of them.

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