The Hindu : Plan to `disarm' film pirates

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, May 30, 2003

Other States

Other States - New Delhi

Plan to `disarm' film pirates

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI MAY 29. It is a parallel industry that has been eating into the profits of the celluloid world. But the world of cinema -- or at least those who hope to protect it from the sleazy gangs of new- age "pirates'' -- seems finally to have a plan that it is hoping will "pay off''.

The Motion Pictures Association which represents major Hollywood studios has now launched a new reward scheme that will help people earn as much as Rs. 30,000 for giving information about factories churning out illegal and pirated forms of movies.

Aimed at controlling the increasing problem of illegal Recordable Compact Disc (CD-R) and Recordable Digital Versatile Disc (DVD-R), the new scheme is being launched in cooperation with the MPA's legal advisers, Lall and Sethi, who will be looking into the implementation of the programme here.

To be launched initially in Delhi and Mumbai, the MPA scheme is aimed at gaining the confidence of the public and get them to join a movement that is being seen the world over as one of the major reasons for the declining fortunes of the film industry.

Launched simultaneously in eight countries including India, the prize will be awarded only if the given information is verified and helps in a successful raid. Explaining, the legal counsel for MPA, Chander M.Lall said, "The caller will get an award provided the factory in question has at least seven CD-R burners. The small factories are already identified. We are only looking for the big ones.'' A growing problem in India, last year saw nearly 270 CD-R burners being seized in India. The 24-hour hotline number that can be called for leaving the information is 011-51643707. Those interested can also mail to info@filmpiracy.com.

While Hollywood is reported to have lost as much as $ 75 millions to piracy, the Indian film industry has lost nearly 1,700 crores due to pirated CDs that flood the market before a films release and are often shown by cable operators across the city.

In the Capital to launch the Indian leg of the worldwide campaign, the vice president and regional director of the asia pacific anti piracy operations of the MPA, Michael C Ellis, points out "The scheme has shown results in places like Hong Kong and Taiwan, where we recently managed to raid a factory with 93 CD burners. It is proving to be quite a success and we are hoping that it will do well in India Korea and Malaysia too.''China may be leading the way with nearly 91 per cent piracy rate, but India despite its 75 per cent loses a sizable mount of the industry's money to piracy.

With the Asian region being responsible for nearly 87 per cent of the piracy cases reported last year, the concern about the region may be but obvious, but there is obviously a lot of work left to be done.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Other States

Stories in this Section

Glum schools may glee again

New D-G of Infantry

Spotlight on rights of the disabled

NDMC shut doors, opens problems for Delhiites

Khurana roars in `frustration'

Power scheme will prove `onions' for Congress

Plan to `disarm' film pirates