Meeting of State Information and Broadcasting Ministers
November 7, 2001, New Delhi.

Note on Piracy Situation in India by Mr J.F. Ribeiro

Background

Piracy has posed a threat to the music industry since its inception. In fact, in our neighbouring countries such as Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka piracy has almost killed the local music industry and no major record companies are able to operate in these countries.

The advances in technology has made it exceedingly easy for pirates to earn huge profits from the creative efforts of musicians, songwriters and singers and the companies who invest in nurturing and promoting their talents. The pirates apart from not having to bear any royalty or marketing costs are depriving the exchequer of crores of rupees in legitimate taxes. In many countries it has being noticed that piracy has gone hand in hand with other organized crimes such as Credit Card fraud, Drug Trafficking etc., thus encouraging the spread of criminality.

The IMI, which is an association of over fifty leading record companies in the country decided to fight this threat very seriously, and in 1996 appointed Mr. J.F. Ribeiro as its Chief Coordinator IPR, to set up anti-piracy units all over the country. In 1997 Mr. J.F.Ribeiro appointed Mr. Prakash Singh former D.G. of U.P. ad D.G., B.S.F., as coordinator for Northern - Eastern Region and Mr. V. Balachandran, former Special Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat, as coordinator for Western – Southern Region. Under them, teams have been set up in over 22 states of the country headed by senior retired police and army officers. The IMI anti-piracy teams carry out investigations into the manufacture, distribution and sale of pirated music and liaise with the local police to carryout raids and bring criminal charges against the offenders. As a result of the initiative, over 3000 raids have been carried out all over India since 1997 leading to the seizure of over 3 Million pirated cassettes, over 10 million inlay cards, over 1200 recording machines, printing presses, CD Writers and over 2 lakh pirated CDs. Over 3000 persons have been arrested and the cases are at various stages of trial or investigation. Over 100 convictions have been obtained, a dozen or more attracting jail sentences of between 3 months and 3 years.

The comparative figures for total number of raids carried out so far are given below:

IMI has also carried out extensive workshops for police personnel to educate them in various aspect of Copyright law and carried out a public awareness campaign through the press and TV to educate the public about the scourge of piracy.
Current Situation

Despite the intensity of the raiding activity and the various initiatives of IMI since 1997 the level of piracy (though reduced from over 80% in 1980’s) remains high at around 40%. The main reason for this is that though numerous cases have been filed the inordinate delays in the courts do not lead to sufficient deterrence and the pirates are able to get several adjournments in the cases.

Also, in some of the cases that have ended in conviction, the pirates have got away paying small fines even though the law recommends a minimum prison sentence for 6 months for Copyright violation.

There have also been many acquittals due to procedural reasons which have emboldened the pirates further.

The other difficulty that has been faced in anti-piracy operation is a lack of control at entry points. Pirated CDs are being smuggled from countries such as Pakistan, Malaysia and Nepal without any fear of customs seizure.

Further Measures required to control piracy :

The IMI is determined to continue in its efforts to investigate and prosecute those indulging in piracy, and ensure that the industry is not destroyed by piracy,

The music industry urgently needs the Governments cooperation in the following areas:
1) Streamlining of the procedures in court so that Copyright owners are not put to unnecessary harassment by calling of non-material witnesses and unnecessary adjournments by the courts.

2) The IMI has suggested various amendments to the law including making the minimum sentence provided by Copyright Act mandatory in cases where Copyright violation has been proved.

3) Setting up of dedicated cells in the State CID’s to carryout anti-piracy operations as often the local police are busy with law and order problems etc.

4) Stricter border control through Customs so that suspected counterfeit or pirated cassettes and CDs are detained and the copyright owners opinion sought on whether goods are being imported legally.