Film piracy is a huge issue for film-makers these days as it eats into their profits and impacts the growth of film industry at large. The situation is such that pirated copies are put up online within a couple of hours on the Net.
To curb the digital piracy problem, the government has amended laws to include jail sentence and fines up to 5% of film’s production cost. In fact, the government brought in these changes to the Cinematograph Act two years back.
Sections 6AA and 6AB of Cinematograph Act prohibited unauthorized recording and transmission of films. The newly added Section 7(1B) (ii) of the Cinematograph Act empowers the government to issue necessary directions to intermediaries for hosting pirated content.
The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and the Central Board of Film Certification are now empowered to recieve complaints from copyright holders or authorized persons. They can issue necessary directions to intermediaries hosting such content.
According to one report, the Internet & Mobile Association of India and the Indian Entertainment industry faced a loss of Rs 22,400 crore in 2023, due to piracy.
The latest victims of piracy are Kannappa in Telugu and Housefull 5 in Bollywood.
