MPA working on checking film piracy

In a bid to prevent piracy that costs over Rs 1,700 crore to the India's entertainment industry, the US-based Motion Pictures Association (MPA) is working to 'support' not just the American film industry, but the industry across the globe.

Piracy dents the Indian film industry's profits more than it does American producers and distributors. It is estimated that only 20 per cent of foreign films face piracy threat, while as many as 80 per cent of the domestic films suffer due to the problem.

The questions that pop up are: Does copyright have any value for consumers? What's the future of the music and film industry?

"One of the most important things the MPA is working worldwide is to better understand consumers' attitude towards our industry," says Mike Ellis, senior vice-president and regional director (Asia-Pacific) of the association.

He adds that they need to know exactly what movie-goers want from the theatrical experience and what motivates them to go to the movie halls or to stay at home?

In this regard, MPA hosted the premier of a 3-D documentary, titled "What's It To Me? Creativity, Copyright and the People Who Care About Them (And Don't). The documentary was aimed at showcasing different viewpoints that students bring to a discussion about intellectual property rights or copyrights.

Explaining how the questions were prepared for the documentary, Roberto De Vito, head public relations of MPA (Asia-Pacific), said, "We asked the university students in Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore for their views on intellectual property theft, while also asking copyright owners Rakesh Mehra (Director of Rang De Basanti) about his perspective."

According to the government estimates, the Indian entertainment industry loses around Rs 1,700 crore annually on account of piracy. MPA has carried out about 1,000 raids since 2004 across India with the cooperation of law enforcement authorities.

"Respect for the intellectual property rights is absolutely vital to our economies and societies and that understanding people's views is the first vital step in the education process. Therefore, MPA is working to develop and support the film industry worldwide," said Chander Lall, operations head, MPA (India).