Safeguarding intellectual property rights of artists and dependents

The Supreme Court recently delivered its judgement in favour of Sheela Wijewardena, the wife of the late veteran musician Clarence Wijewardena, in an intellectual property rights case. 

The SC ruling stems from an action filed in the Commercial High Court by Mrs. Wijewardena (Appellant) alleging that copyright of the lyrics and musical compositions of several songs authored by veteran musician, late Clarence Wijewardena, has been infringed by Sarath Kothalawala (Torana music) and Rajiv Sebastian (Respondents) by performing the said songs and producing compact discs incorporating the said songs.

The judgement was delivered by a bench comprising Justices E.A.G.R. Amarasekara, A.L. Shiran Gooneratne, and Arjuna Obeyesekere and is one that will have an impact across the music and creative arts industry in the country.

The ruling came a few weeks before the release of a film on the life of one of Sri Lanka’s most loved musicians Clarence Wijewardena named ‘Rhythm of the Guitar’. He was a multi- talented artist who not only sang his own songs but also wrote and composed them while also composing and writing songs for many of the leading Sri Lankan artists of the 1960s-70s. While Clarence Wijewardena died at the age of 53 in 1996, his music continues to be popular among every generation of Sri Lankans, kept alive till today by many of his fans and imitators.

While many of the musicians of that era are no longer among the living, their tunes are as familiar to Sri Lankans today as would’ve been during their heyday many decades ago.

However, the intellectual rights of these artists and the rights of their families to the monetary benefits of their creations continue to be largely ignored while others exploit their creations for financial gain.

There were no intellectual rights laws in Sri Lanka in the years that Wijewardena and many of his contemporaries were making music. They earned little by way of monetary gains for their artistic talent and thrived on the love of their fans. Many did not live to see how their creations would generate millions in royalties in the years to come. There are many reports of extremely talented artists of yore dying in poverty, some too poor to buy their medicine, not owning a place of their own to live in, and being destitute. A lot of their dependents too have ended up the same except for a few.

Sadly, this is while their songs are heard regularly on the radio and feature regularly over television and new media such as YouTube and other social media platforms. But whatever income is generated does not flow down to the artists, if they’re alive, or their dependents, who are the rightful owner of such works.

The case filed by Mrs. Clarence Wijewardena is over 10 years old and it’s been an uphill battle, but the Supreme Court has ruled in her favour but not many other families have neither the will nor the resources to take legal action.

Sri Lanka has been a member of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) since 1978, and the National Intellectual Property Office of Sri Lanka was established under the Intellectual Property Act No. 36 of 2003 but intellectual law enforcement has been weak and almost non-existence when it comes to the fields such as music and writing.

While the SC ruling is welcome, there must be a better system in place so that those who benefit financially from the works created by others do not enjoy the fruits of another person’s hard work alone and that the artist, if they are alive, or their dependents get a share of such profits. It’ll not only be a tribute to a musical great of this country like Clarence Wijewardena but also to both past and present generations of artists.