Ilaiyaraaja has been in the news after he served legal notices to Coolie producers and Manjummel Boys producers for using his songs without proper permission. Not just this, the legendary music composer has also filed a petition in the Madras High Court to refrain filmmakers from using his songs in their movies without proper permission.

This practice by Ilaiyaraaja has turned into a debate within the industry. Now, after Mark Antony producer Vinod Kumar, Vijay Antony has shared his opinion.

Vijay Antony reacts to Ilaiyaraaja’s copyright battle

During a recent interaction with the Press and Media, the Romeo actor said the veteran composer is the owner of the songs owned by his company. Speaking in favour of Ilaiyaraaja, Vijay added that Manjummel Boys producers should have met the composer out of respect after the film’s success.

Explaining Ilaiyaraaja’s copyright claims, he said that earlier composed had his own audio label which he was running in the name of his friend. So, the legendary composer is asking for royalties for only those songs which are licensed by him.

Vinod Kumar stands against Ilaiyaraaja over copyright claims

Taking to his X handle, Kumar replied to a post shared by an industry tracker Amutha Bharathi and said that Ilaiyaraaja has no rights over the songs or his works "once he takes money for the work". He added, "There should be an end of this , court should step in and give a ‘once for all’ order on this !! The song is created for the particular film and the film producer has given money for producing the song."

Vinod Kumar's bold statement came after Ilaiyaraaja sent a legal copyright notice to Manjummel Boys producers for "unauthorised use" of his song Kanmani Anbodu from Kamal Haasan starrer Gunaa.

Before Manjummel Boys, Ilaiyaraaja had sent a legal notice to Coolie director Lokesh Kanagaraj over the song Disco.