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| Oct 10, 2008 | |
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Tanya loses song rights bid
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| Court rejects Tanya Chua's claims against former music publisher | |
| By Selina Lum | |
| LOCAL singer-songwriter Tanya Chua yesterday failed in her court bid to get her former music publisher to release the rights to her songs.
She had in July taken Music & Movement to court to seek a declaration that the rights to all the songs she had composed while contracted to it should revert to her, since the contract had ended. She also claimed that Music & Movement had breached a clause in the contract and, because of this, the rights to her compositions should revert to her. But the High Court rejected her claims in a closed-door hearing yesterday. Ms Chua is in Taiwan and could not be contacted. Her mother, who is also her manager, said the matter had been left to her lawyers. Calls to her lawyers at Samuel Seow Law Corporation were not returned. Music & Movement chief executive Lim Sek, who is in Hong Kong, said he was glad that the courts upheld the sanctity of a contract. Ms Chua started out singing in English but found success in the Mandarin pop market. In July, she scooped two awards - for Best Female Singer and Best Album Producer - at the Golden Melody Awards in Taiwan. Mr Lim, in his affidavit, said his first company, Ping Pong Music Publishing, talent-spotted her, groomed her and advised her to try writing songs. Her first English CD was launched in 1997; her first one in Mandarin came two years later, which established her as a singer-songwriter. She then entered a three-year contract with Mr Lim's new company, Music & Movement, in September 2002, and signed over to it the rights to her works. The contract was extended in 2005. Of her quest to take back the rights to her songs, Mr Lim's lawyer Krishnan Nadarajan said the contract stated that the firm would continue to have the rights even after the contract expired. And of her reliance on a clause in the contract that said the rights would revert to her if the company failed to account for royalties on time, he noted that correspondence on this matter was ongoing. Mr Lim said in his affidavit that Ms Chua had chosen to disregard the fact that his companies had propelled her career. 'I no longer expect any gratitude from the plaintiff,' said Mr Lim in his affidavit. | |
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