Modi govt to have institutional mechanism to tackle piracy

On the latest decision, Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur said that the content creator spends a lot of time and energy making good content and people who are involved in the piracy take away that content and exhibit it in the halls and on online platforms.

New Delhi: With the film industry losing around Rs 20,000 crore every year to piracy, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting on Friday announced the setting up of an institutional mechanism to receive complaints and issue directions for taking down such content on digital platforms.

The appointment of nodal officers as part of the institutional mechanism to deal with the issue of piracy came after the Cinematograph (Amendment) Act, 2023 was notified earlier this year after Parliament passed a Bill during the Monsoon Session.

Once a nodal officer decides on complaints of piracy, the digital platform will have to remove such internet links hosting pirated content within a period of 48 hours.

On the latest decision, Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur said that the content creator spends a lot of time and energy making good content and people who are involved in piracy take away that content and exhibit it in the halls and on online platforms.

“The annual loss to the industry is Rs 20-25,000 crore. Today we have appointed nodal officers in the Ministry and in the CBFC Mumbai office and regional offices…If we look at the piracy issue, now they could be fined up to Rs 3 lakh to 5 per cent of the gross audited value of production,” he told reporters.

A senior Ministry official said the new mechanism addresses the issue of absence of an institutional mechanism. Till now, one could only take legal recourse through IPC or Copyright Act.

“With the proliferation of the internet and almost everyone interested in watching filmic content for free, there has been a boom in piracy. The latest decision would allow instant action by the Ministry in case of piracy and will provide relief to the industry,” the official said.

An original copyright holder or any person authorised by them for this purpose can approach the nodal officer once a pirated content is spotted and apply for taking it down.

If a complaint is raised by a person who does not hold the copyright or is not authorised by the copyright holder, the nodal officer will hearings on a case to case basis to decide the genuineness of the complaint before issuing the directions.