Piracy and Cinematograph Bill, 2023

What’s in today’s article?

• Why in News?
• What is Piracy?
• Need for a Legislation on Piracy
• Cinematograph Bill, 2023

Why in News?

• The Union Cabinet has given its approval to the Cinematograph Bill, 2023 which has stringent provisions to tackle the menace of piracy in films, which leads to losses worth thousands of crores to the movie industry annually.
• The government’s approval to the Bill was welcomed by members of the Indian film fraternity who termed the decision a move towards “preserving the movie going experience” and “curbing the menace of film piracy”.

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What is Piracy?

• Piracy refers to the unauthorized duplication of copyrighted content that is then sold at substantially lower prices in the ‘grey’ market.
• The ease of access to technology has meant that over the years, piracy has become more rampant.
• For example, CD writers are available off the shelf at very low prices, making movies/music piracy a simple affair.

Need for a Legislation on Piracy

• Currently, Cinematograph Act of 1952 is the only legislation in India that guides certification of films for public exhibition.
  • The provisions of the legislation are applicable to films released in Indian theatres, which are regulated by the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC).
• There has been a major jump worldwide in consumption of pirated content over the last few years.
• A recent report has pointed out that India ranked third globally for consuming pirated content in 2021.
• The current Cinematograph Act of 1952 does not have provisions to check video piracy and has limited age-based categories for certification of films.
• It had been largely rendered redundant with the growth of the OTT industry and the content produced by the platforms every year.
  • OTT content is governed by the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, which were released in 2021.
• Over the last few years, the government made multiple attempts to amend the existing Cinematograph Act.
• An expert committee under Justice Mukul Mudgal was set up in 2013 to examine the law.
• A second panel was subsequently constituted under filmmaker Shyam Benegal in 2016 to devise guidelines for certification under the Act.

Cinematograph Bill, 2023

• In 2019, an earlier draft of an amended Cinematograph Bill was introduced in Rajya Sabha with new provisions for tackling piracy of film content.
• A report on it was then presented by the Standing Committee on Information Technology in Lok Sabha, following which the ministry came with a draft Bill in 2021.
• This draft of the Bill had introduced new provisions for certification of films under UA category by dividing it into age-based categories such as U/A 7+, U/A 13+ and U/A 16+.
• It had separate provisions stating that no person would be permitted to use any audio-visual recording device in a place to knowingly make or transmit or abet the making or transmission of a copy of a film or its part without the written authorisation of the author.
• It also had provisions to penalise those involved in piracy, including imprisonment and a fine.
• The new Bill i.e. Cinematograph Bill, 2023 is likely to keep several stringent provisions against those involved in film piracy.
• The Information and Broadcasting (I&B) Ministry extensive consultation was held with international filmmakers and the Indian film industry before the Bill was drafted.
• The Bill seeks to replace Cinematograph Act of 1952.
• The Government is likely to introduce the Bill in the Monsoon session of the Parliament

Q1) What is the Central Board of Film Certification?

The Central Board of Film Certification is a statutory film-certification body in the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting of the Government of India. It is tasked with “regulating the public exhibition of films under the provisions of the Cinematograph Act 1952.

Q2) What is the meaning of OTT?

OTT (over-the-top) is a means of providing television and film content over the internet at the request and to suit the requirements of the individual consumer. The term itself stands for “over-the-top”, which implies that a content provider is going over the top of existing internet services.

Source:  Aimed at checking piracy of films, new Cinematograph Bill gets Cabinet nod | ToI