The Madras High Court on Friday (November 21, 2025) entertained a John Doe suit (a case filed against unknown individuals/entities) filed by acclaimed musician R. Ilaiyaraaja to protect his personality rights. It granted an interim injunction restraining unauthorised use of his name, photograph, and other attributes for commercial gain by television channels, YouTube channels, music companies, social media influencers, and others on platforms such as YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook.
Justice N. Senthilkumar granted the injunction after hearing the arguments advanced by senior counsel S. Prabakaran for the plaintiff, who claimed his name ‘Ilaiyaraaja’ with varied spellings, as well as his title ‘Isaignani’, meaning musical genius, had virtually become unregistered trademarks and hence, no third party could use them for commercial gain without his express permission.
Producers can’t cull out songs I composed for their movies and sell to music labels: Ilaiyaraaja
In his plaint, the musician said, he was regarded as a legend and creative genius across the globe. He had composed around 8,500 songs and said, arguably, he was the only composer in the world to have scored music for more than 1,450 feature films in nine languages. He has written lyrics for 1,500 songs, sung around 1,000 songs, and his background score exceeds 1.5 lakh minutes.
