Law to check film, music piracy be made more effective: Dasmunsi

New Delhi, May 11 (UNI) With revenue loss from film piracy reaching about Rs 1200 crore annually, the Government was seized of the importance of making the Copyright Act more effective, and was considering various suggestions in this regard, Minister of Information and Broadcasting P R Dasmunsi said here today.

Copyright Enforcement Cells have been set up in most of the States and Union Territories to check violation of the law, and his Ministry has made suggestions for checking piracy in the film and music sector, while keeping in view the proposed amendments to the Copyright Act, Mr Dasmunsi said replying to a question in the Rajya Sabha.

The government had also received a proposal to enact an Optical Disc Law to counter such piracy, he said.

The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) has been entrusted with the task of determining the need for a separate legislation for manufacture of optical discs, said the minister.

Apart from this, the Ministry has started training programmes for police personnel on copyright issues in the film sector and commissioned National Film Development Corporation Ltd to launch an anti-piracy campaign through films.

Audio CDs were exempted from excise duty to do away with the price advantage to pirated CDs etc, he said.

The Copyright Act, 1957, which falls under the purview of the Ministry of Human Resource Development contains, inter alia, legal provisions regarding copyright in cinematograph films and music. The responsibility for dealing with offences under the copyright Act rests with the state governments and Union Territory administrations. The Act is amended from time to time to keep it in consonance with International Copyright Law, the minister said.

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