Vodafone challenged for using songs of film `Seeta Aur Geeta`

Sippy Films approached Delhi High Court contending that it has the copyright over the songs and Vodafone is using them illegally.

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court today sought a response from Vodafone Essar Mobile Services Ltd on a lawsuit by the producer of `Seeta Aur Geeta` seeking to restrain the telecom service provider from using songs of the 1972 Bollywood blockbuster as ring tones and caller tunes.

Sippy Films, maker of the film starring Dharmendra, Sanjeev Kumar and Hema Malini, approached the court contending that it has the copyright over the songs and Vodafone is using them illegally without paying royalty to it. Justice Sunil Gaur issued a notice to the telecom company and sought its response within four weeks. The court also allowed music company Saregama India Ltd to be a party to the case which claims to be the owner of copyrights of the songs of the film by an agreement with Sippy Films in 1967. "Saregama is claiming to be an exclusive owner of the sound tracks pertaining to the film `Seeta Aur Geeta` by virtue of the agreement November 14, 1967, and Vodafone is an end-user of the said music track as value added services products," Advocate Ajay Bhargava, appearing for Saregama, said. The Delhi High Court had recently allowed Vodafone to use the songs of film `Sholay` as value-added-services product by paying royalty to Sholay Media and Entertainment Pvt Ltd. The judgement was, however, challenged by Sholay Films a well as Universal Music India Pvt Ltd before a larger bench of the high court. PTI