Piracy

Piracy of films and music is one of the biggest intellectual property rights issues facing the film industry today and is acknowledged as a "global problem due to the rapid advances in technology".²¹⁸Within a few days of the world premier of a film, a VCD or a DVD (often of poor quality) becomes available on the streets at a fraction of a film ticket. According to the International Intellectual Property Alliance, the losses due to piracy of U.S. copyrighted materials alone around the world are estimated to reach US $20 - $22 billion annually (not including internet piracy).²¹⁹ However, this phenomenon is not limited to China and India as widely perceived, as indicated in the table below which shows that even developed countries have a high amount of piracy.

Piracy, which amounts to an infringement of copyright, is punishable under the Copyright Act. In India, a civil suit or other civil proceeding can be initiated in a district court that has jurisdiction.²²⁰ Similarly, a Metropolitan Magistrate or a Judicial Magistrate of the First Class is empowered to adjudicate on the criminal offense of piracy.²²¹ A country report by International Intellectual Property Alliance notes, “The primary obstacles to reducing piracy rates in India are police corruption (larger pirates are often protected by the police), lack of resources and an overcrowded and ineffective court system that prevents conclusion of even the simplest criminal cases. It has become commonplace for only smaller pirates to be raided.”²²² However, the report also mentions that the film industry has had some success in obtaining countrywide civil injunctions against cable pirates and holding them in contempt citations for violations, which has brought some deterrence.

Piracy occurs in various media, such as cable piracy, VCR piracy and its variants, LD, DVD and VCD piracy. Renting or selling these pirated films the world over considerably undermines the business potential of the film. Most Bollywood films are telecast on cable without any authorization or distribution rights, almost as soon as they are released in theaters. Costs for curbing piracy are prohibitive, costing more than US $50,000 for the first three to four weeks alone primarily,²²³ because there are as many as 40,000 cable systems in India. Even Hollywood films are released in India without authorization within a few weeks of their international release. This often results in multiple copies of the film being made available in India prior to their theatrical releases. These illegal screenings on local cable networks and video parlors are siphoning an average US $220,000 (Rs. 10 million) from the legitimate market on a daily basis.²²⁴ The industry loses revenue to the tune of about US $76 million annually (Rs. 3500 million).²²⁵ Similarly, piracy has dealt a blow to the Indian music industry contributing in a major way to the Rs 1800 crore loss it has suffered over the last three years. The IMI estimates that for the year 2002 piracy has cost the industry a cash loss of Rs. 200 crore on a turnover, which has shrunk to Rs. 700 crore.²²⁶

The Indian government has initiated several measures for better enforcement of copyright laws.²²⁷ Production houses have also actively started taking steps to curb film piracy. An attempt to control piracy was made by Rajshree Productions Limited prior to the release of their blockbuster - Hum Aapke Hain Kaun. Every print of the film was assigned a serial number, which was reproduced with every copy of the film made. Thus, if any pirated copies were released, it would be easier to trace their source. As a result of these measures, the release of pirated copies of the film was deterred.

Further, the Indian judiciary has also come to the fore in the area of copyright protection. In addition to increasing the penalty under law, video films have to display certain copyright related information on the recorded video films and containers. Backed by strict regulations and the strong enforcement of the law, Bollywood is thus leaning towards legally enforceable structures and processes.

Piracy goes beyond simply creating VCD/DVDs or doing illegal screening, another aspect of piracy includes copyright thefts, which entails the copying or lifting of an author's work by making the 'necessary' changes to avoid infringement. Films that borrow or recycle existing material, conventions, idioms, styles and even images have increased in number.²²⁸ Such pilfering of ideas can cause whole industry to suffer. For a film to be successful on the global scale or for a movie industry to become a player on a global level, it has to rely on creativity and originality.