Summary:
Further, there would not be any payment of publishing royalty to the composer.”Such permanent transfer of copyright is not a service for levy of service tax. Even temporary transfer or permitting enjoyment of copyright falling under the Copyright Act is exempted from service tax, he added. “In terms of section 13(1)(a) of the Copyright Act, copyright subsists in musical work and the composer is the sole and absolute owner of such right. The said rights are assigned to the producer of movies under agreements executed with the producers which makes them the absolute owner of the copyright,” Rahman said. The show-cause notice also misinterpreted the provisions of the Copyright Act and presumed producer as the first owner of musical works..