Rakesh Roshan gives new twist to 'Krazzy 4' copyright dispute

Mumbai, Apr 12 (UNI) Giving a new twist to the copyright dispute on the music of his film , ''Krazzy 4'', noted filmmaker Rakesh Roshan today said despite proofs in his hand to defend himself in the case, he was forced to go for an out-of-court settlement and pay Rs two crore to the complainant Ram Sampath for want of time.

Roshan, in a statement here, alleged that this was a well planned scheme of making money and he was required to be in the court, when prints of the film had already been delivered all over the world.

''I paid the price to Ram Sampath, who strangulated me just days before the release,'' he said, adding that to keep up his commitment with distributors, he succumbed to the pressure and had to compromise on the matter, to ensure that the film is released on the announced date.

According to him, he had liked the music piece of the ad which he saw on TV, in which Hrithik Roshan is performing as a brand ambassador for Sony Ericsson. ''For using some portion of the said music in my film, I requested Sony Ericsson and was granted consent and permission in December 2007,'' he said, adding that relying on the authorisation of Sony Ericsson, he recorded with the required modification, retaining only four bars of the Thump track.

He said he received a notice from the solicitors of Ram Sampath on March 24 that contained allegations of infringement of his work.

''I contacted Sony Ericsson and was told that they issued the authorisation by mistake and infact they didn't have the rights for the same,'' he added.

Roshan said before he could think of any solution, Sampath had filed a suit in the Bombay High Court framing allegations of infringing his copyright of the said music piece of Thump.

''Ram Sampath chose to wait and instituted the suit in the High Court just a few days before the release of the film,'' he said.

Sampath had slapped a notice to Roshan and his brother and music director of the film Rajesh Roshan for alleged copyright infringement. According to the notice, Sampath had produced a 60 second jingle for Sony Ericsson's advertisement titled 'the Thump' that has been used in four songs in the film Krazzy 4, including the title song, crediting Rajesh Roshan instead of Ram Sampath for that.

Sampath had demanded a compensation of Rs two crores from the Roshans and had requested the court to give an injunction to the film director, and prevent them from using the jingle in the film.

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