It’s no secret that people and small companies often plagiarize but we often don’t hear big brands such as Coca Cola caught up in a situation such as this. Singer-Producer Farhad Humayun has accused and sent out a legal notice to Coca Cola for violating intellectual property rights in a recent TV advertisement.
Coca Cola allegedly used Humayun’s version of Neray Aah’s vocals, guitar melody, song tempo and vocal melody in a TVC as a teaser for the latest coke studio season.
“They’ve lifted the groove, melody, staccato vocalization, accents,
tempo from my song, not the film version nor the Coke Studio version
(which is also my arrangement). This has to stop!”
Humayun recently released further details about his dispute with the beverage company. On the famous Facebook platform, he stated a letter that dated 5th Oct 2011 grants Permission and Rights to Farhad Humayun by Mr. Syed Noor to use the song “Neray Aah” from his film “Choorian” for new artistic expression including but not limited to re-mixing, re-arranging, re-recording, release and performance.
The song Neray Aah was released in 2011 becoming a big hit, the song caught many eyes and ears in the Bollywood industry and many requested for the song to be used in bollywood films. Humayun and his band Overload, declined the offers as the Bollywood artists and directors desired to change details and have Indian singers cover the song.