The latest report by the office of the US Trade Representative has suggested that India needs to have an anti-camcording legislation and more effective measures to counter online piracy. But, the domestic industry players believe that such legislation will only help curb piracy of physical formats – DVDs and CDs, a bigger threat is online content theft.

Most analysts say that India has laws but it is the enforcement which is an issue to curb piracy.

Already, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting is looking at stricter legislations through the Cinematographer Bill, 2013, which has proposed several measures including making piracy a non-bailable offence.

The Motion Pictures Distribution Association, the India office of Motion Pictures Association, has been working actively with cinema owners besides other stakeholders to curb piracy.

Jehil Thakkar, Head of Media and Entertainment, KPMG in India, said that piracy is a key challenge for Hollywood studios in India as well as for the Indian production and content makers.

“There is a need for stricter enforcement of legislations to curb piracy, especially as the problem has become far more complex in the internet age,” he added.

He also pointed out that today, technology is available which can help identify the source of piracy and needs more consistent effort from stakeholders.

Added Smita Jha, Leader- Entertainment & Media Practice at PricewaterhouseCoopers India, “There needs to be more awareness about piracy. The content theft and piracy has become a bigger challenge for the entertainment industry. It requires close co-ordination between Central and State governments besides law enforcement authorities for clamping down on piracy.”

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