Film piracy: Industry and state initiatives to combat it

Would you steal a car? A fancy phone? Or maybe somebody’s wallet? No? Then why steal a movie? A film is the property of its copyright holder and deserves the same protection as any other property.

Extent of the problem

In the past decade, film piracy become a problem of mammoth proportions. Films are being pirated and mass circulated even before their release at the box office. The studios, producers and financiers who have millions riding on these film projects are seeing their investments come to a naught. The piracy menace has become every film-maker’s worst nightmare.

Technological advancement has helped push piracy to new heights. Film piracy in India is no longer just physical duplication of content. Making content available to share and download is now an even bigger threat. The internet company Envisional found that online piracy of film and television content in India was mainly through file-sharing networks. Video-streaming sites are also popular.

Pooja Dodd and Manisha Singh Nair are partners at LexOrbis.