Up to 3-year jail term, steep fine for film piracy: Anurag Thakur

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

bill mandating a maximum jail term of three years and a fine of up to five per cent of the production cost of the film for persons involved in film piracy and circulation of such content. The Cinematograph (Amendment) Bill 2023, which was passed by Rajya Sabha on Thursday last week, was approved by the Lok Sabha after a brief debate amid protests by the opposition demanding a statement by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Parliament on the ethnic violence in Manipur. «We will stop film piracy through this Bill.

This has been a longstanding demand of the film industry,» Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur said replying to the debate in the Lok Sabha. This was the first substantial amendment to the Cinematograph Act 1953 since 1984 when the minimum punishment for an offence relating to a video film was introduced. «If a film is made at a cost of Rs 1,000 crore, the fine for making a pirated copy would amount upto Rs 50 crore,» Thakur said.

The Bill also empowers the state governments to block websites and URLs hosting pirated content under the Information Technology Act. Thakur said earlier pirated copies of a film were made using camcorders, but with the advent of new technologies, new methods have been found to make such copies and transmit them using different platforms. The Bill also removes section 6.1 of the Act that granted powers to the Central government to revise the CBFC certification of a film.