Date:01/10/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/10/01/stories/2008100159580200.htm

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Police personnel attend workshop on copyrights

Staff Reporter

CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu ranks high on the list of States that take swift action in cases pertaining to Intellectual Property Rights and copyrights violation, according to members of the Indian Music Industry (IMI), an association of music companies.

The IMI organised a training programme for police personnel here on Tuesday. Nearly 100 personnel, across ranks, attended the workshop aimed at raising awareness about Intellectual Property Rights.

Addressing a press conference after the workshop, Commissioner of Police R. Sekar said that so far pirated VCDs worth Rs.13 crore had been seized in Tamil Nadu. Chief advisor to IMI J.F. Ribeiro said the Copyright Act was applicable to music, films, publishing and software. “Through workshops like these, the IMI hopes to increase awareness.”

IMI’s secretary general Savio D’ Souza said that the body had filed over 15,000 cases so far. Of these, about 6,000 were in Tamil Nadu. “This does not mean that there are more instances of copyrights violation in Tamil Nadu.” A separate cell for audio-video piracy facilitates this, he added.