The Hindu : Class for cops on copyright

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Feb 26, 2003

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Class for cops on copyright

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI FEB. 25. Taking its anti-piracy campaign, "Sound of Silence'', further, the Indian Music Industry (IMI) today organised a copyright workshop for the Delhi police. It was the second such workshop after the campaign was kicked off in April last year.

The workshop, conducted by IMI's head of anti-piracy operations, Julio Ribeiro, was aimed at increasing awareness about piracy and sensitising police officials on the need for stricter enforcement to curb the problem. The workshop was attended by film star and Member of Parliament, Shabana Azmi, along with key officials of the Delhi police including the Police Commissioner, R.S.Gupta.

Addressing the workshop, Mr. Gupta said the police now looked upon violation of Intellectual Property Rights as a major offence. However, he admitted that the police were not equipped to deal with the issue and therefore workshops like these were crucial as they helped the police understand the intricacies and then plan their strategy.

In her appeal, Ms. Azmi said the police will have to do everything to prevent piracy. ''I know the police force is already greatly burdened. However, without your cooperation, we will not be able to nip piracy in the bud,'' she stated.

Despite being identified as a criminal offence, piracy has not yet been effectively controlled. As Julio Ribeiro, Chief Co- Ordinator, Indian Music Industry, said : "Police authorites have been very cooperative in our quest against piracy. However, there is a lot more that needs to be done to improve the situation.'Of the 4.9 crore cassettes manufactured and sold every month, nearly 1.6 crores are illegally manufactured and sold by pirates. The Exchequer suffers a loss of upto Rs. 100 crores every year in the form of sales duty and tax due to the piracy of cassettes.

IMI's anti-piracy wing has recorded 5,247 criminal cases and brought to book 3,737 people in the past three years. Of these, only 253 cases have ended in conviction and only in 36 cases long prison sentence or heavy fines have been awarded. "This extremely low rate of penalties does not act as a fitting deterrent for piracy. The music industry fears that if all the agencies concerned including the police, prosecution and judiciary do not contribute their share to curb piracy, the music companies will be in dire straits,''said Mr. V. J. Lazarus, President of IMI.

The music industry, it was pointed out, has lost Rs. 1,800 crores over the past three years owing to piracy. The current situation was so alarming that the music companies have been forced to curtail investments in promoting new artists and marketing new titles. "Through these workshops and other mass awareness programmes, we not only aim to draw the attention of the government, law enforcement agencies and consumers against piracy but also seek their help to curb the problem,'' Mr. Lazarus said.

Others who addressed the workshop included T.S.Kripanidhi, Registrar of Copyrights, and R. V. Shrikande from Mumbai who spoke on "How to distinguish pirated cassettes and CDs''. On the occasion, Delhi police officials who have helped conduct raids in various parts of the Capital and helped seize pirated cassettes were honoured by IMI.

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