more-in The Madras High Court on Monday dismissed an appeal by actress Kajal Agarwal and refused to restrain a hair oil manufacturing firm she had endorsed from using a television commercial for more than a year from the date on which she signed the agreement in 2008. A Division Bench of Justices M.M. Sundresh and N. Anand Venkatesh confirmed an order passed by Justice T. Ravindran in August of last year. The Bench said the single judge had rightly held that V.V.D. & Sons was entitled to use the commercial film for a period of 60 years, as provided under Section 26 of the Copyright Act of 1957. Authoring the judgment , Justice Venkatesh said the statutory right conferred on the first owner of a copyright to exploit the entire film for a period of 60 years could not be taken away by one of the performers by unilaterally restricting the time period to a shorter duration. The copyright could not be snatched away from the producer unless the holder voluntarily renounces the right by way of a written agreement, the judge said. He also rejected the actor’s plea to direct the oil firm to pay her damages of ?2.5 crore for having used the commercial film for more than a year. “There are absolutely no materials for this court to award damages,” the bench ruled.

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