COPYCATS OF COPYRIGHT

 

 

“I’m just the tip of an industry of nearly 140 crores of pirated music and movie CDs. An iceberg, which floats on a sea of cold Rs 1,200 crore worth of cash transactions, and that’s annual! The big daddies of the music and movie cassettes, CDs and DVD industry are real money spinners, as, in fact, a huge chunk of their income comes from pirated CDs and DVDs. Actually, the bigwigs use us as scapegoats. They show losses at our expense and evade taxes. Ours is a poor country with people obsessed about cricket and movies. Although we have multiplexes mushrooming everywhere, from the metros to western Uttar Pradesh, the fact remains that a majority of the population can’t afford to buy a Rs 150 CD or spend the same in a movie theatre. Had it not been for our cheap, pirated CDs, a major chunk of our citizens would’ve been deprived of entertainment. However, don’t hastily conclude that we are incurring losses for the producers. That is old hat.



BRASS TACKS

Indian Copyright Act, 1957, Section 51, infringement of copyright, prohibits the reproduction of any material, to be used in any manner for purpose of profit, without licence granted by the owner of the copyright.



Earlier, film producers earned their money through the sale of rights of movie, music and their video and audio cassettes. However, with the onset of globalisation, the economics of producing movies have changed dramatically. The producers often make a profit even before the movie is released. Let’s take Krrish – the movie, for instance. The Tourism Department of Singapore bore the cost of shooting there, advertisements of various products were merrily endorsed by the star cast and the rest was swept in from sale of overseas rights. Movies like these have obviously already made profits and for that matter, we only sell pirated CDs of major hits. We sell CDs for Rs 35 and DVDs for around Rs 70 which is pretty inexpensive compared to the original CDs and DVDs ranging between Rs 100 and Rs 500. Thus, our clientele varies and we have carved our own market. Our buyers are the lower income group who can’t afford originals.

Now, just think of people in various villages and small districts in the country. Many own TV sets and now the low cost Chinese DVD players have entered their homes. These people won’t shell out Rs 500 for just one original DVD or go to movie theaters, when a budget of Rs 70 for a pirated DVD can entertain the entire family. We can sell at such low prices because our total cost incurred is a meagre Rs 15. A blank disc for upto Rs 8, copying movie to the disc costs Re 1 and wrapper accounts for the rest. Besides the old movies, we also get new releases with the cooperation of the hall owners, obviously for a price. Everybody is aware that the law can easily be bought. Delhi is the biggest market for piracy – Palika Bazaar and Lajpat Rai market have thousands of shops selling such CDs. In fact, a renowned cassette company started off with the pirated CDs and cassettes business. You may consider this illegal but we bring people a more economical means for entertainment and are also the reason industry bigwigs have reduced their prices. And lastly, our existence provides for many more jobs and people should really be thankful to us!”