Film Piracy Will Lead To 3 years Jail And/Or Rs 10 Lakh Fine: Surgical Strike Against Rs 18,000 Cr Piracy Market!
Film industry has hailed this move by the Govt.
Indian Govt. has introduced a new law to stop film piracy in India: If any one is caught stealing movies and uploading them on the Interner, then there shall be heavy penalty and imprisonment as well.
Is this enouhg to stop Rs 18,000 crore worth piracy market of Indian movies?
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Govt.’s Big Move To Stop Film Privacy
While announcing the Interim budget for 2019, interim Finance Minister Piyush Goel had announced strict move against movie piracy.
Now, the exact details have been announced.
The Union Cabinet has approved the amendments to the Cinematograph Act, which means that those who are stealing films are in big trouble.
Jail term of 3 years and/or fine of Rs 10 lakh be imposed now, for pirating and stealing movies.
Ministry of Information and Broadcasting had proposed these strong measures in the amendments to Cinematograph Act, which has been approved by the Union Cabinet.
Who Is A Pirate Here?
As per the Cinematograph Act, anyone records a movie inside a theater without any written consent from the producers of that movie is stealing it, hence a pirate.
Besides, if the person, or any other person transmits that illegal recording to someone else for financial benefits and/or helps a person to do that, then that person is also a pirate of movies.
These people can be now jailed for three years, and imprisoned as well.
These amendments are part of the National Intellectual Property policy, which India wants to enforce strongly.
Movie Industry Welcomes This Move
Movie producers, actors, directors and entire fraternity has welcomes this move by the Govt. to stop movie piracy.
Directors Siddharth Roy Kapur, Omung Kumar B and Indra Kumar and others have stated that this major amendment to the existing laws will help curb movie piracy and protect the cinema industry.
Siddharth Roy Kapur, President of the Producers Guild of India, said: “This is a significant move to protect intellectual property in our country. This communicates to all stakeholders that as a country we respect and reward innovation and creativity, and will ensure that the rights of owners and creators of this intellectual property are safeguarded.”
The Menace Of Movie Piracy in India
Taking into account Hindi and regional cinemas, the market size is pegged at Rs 14,000 crore, which is expected to cross Rs 25,000 crore by 2025.
However, the industry of illegal streaming of movies and downloading via torrent sites, which is much bigger. As a 2016-17 report, the total market size of pirated movies in India is approximately Rs 18,000 crore, and growing at a faster rate than entire cinema industry.
Illegal CDs are quickly distributed as soon as a movie is released, and often, the movie is available to download via torrent sites, within hours of its release.
The new amendments to the law will stop movie piracy, generate more jobs and help the industry as a whole to prosper and grow.
We will keep you updated, as more details come in.
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