Maharashtra to follow TN model on anti-piracy law

Even as the Maharashtra government is gearing up to lay down a stringent anti-piracy law on the lines of Tamil Nadu (TN), there has been mixed reactions from the entertainment industry.

Speaking to Business Standard, deputy chief minister R R Patil said, "Currently, the state government is studying the law passed by the Tamil Nadu assembly and very soon such a stringent law will be introduced in the state assembly."

Pointing out the reasons for such a move, Patil said that this has become an attractive option for the underworld to make quick bucks, the state is losing revenue in terms of sales tax and, finally, the piracy market is threatening the bread and butter for lakhs of people employed by the entertainment industry.

Under the Tamil Nadu law, there is punishment not only for engaging in piracy from production to distribution and asales, but also for possessing pirated DVDs, CDs and cassettes.

Under the law, while a person involved in the piracy business may face rigorous imprisonment of up to three years and a fine of Rs 10 lakh, a person possessing pirated DVDs, CDs and cassettes may be put behind bars for one year.

Sanjay Gupta, head of marketing, Music World, said, "Our experience in Tamil Nadu is very encouraging, and we have seen an increase in sales of DVDs, CDs and cassettes."

"I won't say piracy has stopped altogether, but earlier it used to be an open street operation, and now it has at least gone underground," he pointed out.

Speaking about the size of the piracy industry, Gupta said, "The size of the legal music industry in India is around Rs 700 crore and the pirated market is around 30-40 per cent of that."

Ramesh Sippy, president of the Indian Motion Picture Distributor Association, said, "The size of the pirated film CDs and DVDs market is between Rs 400 crore and Rs 500 crore, and the size of the industry in Maharashtra alone is around Rs 100 crore. The size of the official CDs and DVDs market is just around 30 per cent of the pirated one."

He further said, "Governments go on amending the Copyright law, but what we need is implementation on the ground. And more than Maharashtra, we are worried about north India where the market for legal CDs and DVDs hardly exists."

"Besides, there are instances where the government appoints agencies to keep tabs on the pirated market and these so-called agencies end up taking bribes from the manufacturers and the distributors of pirated DVDs and CDs and, in reality, the pirated market continues to thrive," he said.

Shyam Shroff, chairman of Shringar Films, said, "The audio rights market is practically dead because of piracy as well as (poor) quality of music. If a law on the lines of Tamil Nadu is introduced in Maharashtra too, a lot of music companies will start buying audio rights giving a timely boost."