distribution of counterfeit medicines; initiate investigations and judicial actions against Internet piracy; and seek deterrent sentences against persons or entities engaging in copyright piracy and trademark counterfeiting.
Copyright and Piracy
India boasts a vibrant domestic creative industry, but it faces a range of challenges, including growing piracy, particularly over the Internet, that should be addressed through appropriate legal and enforcement reforms. The United States continues to seek additional changes to the amended Copyright Act and related rules that went into effect in 2013. These changes would help resolve questions regarding the scope of exclusive rights under Indian law and the ability of rights holders to exercise those rights. They would also help ensure that content-based industries can effectively combat physical and online piracy and develop new models for the delivery of content, particularly in the digital environment. The United States encourages India, as part of its copyright and enforcement reforms, to enact anti-camcording legislation; to model its statutory license provisions relating to copyrighted works upon Berne Convention standards; to ensure that collecting societies are licensed promptly and able to operate effectively; and to provide additional protections against signal theft, circumvention of technological protection measures, and online copyright piracy.
The United States is particularly concerned over online piracy in India given the size and growth of India's market. According to a report by McKinsey & Company, as of December 2012, India's Internet user base was the third largest in the world, with 120 million users, and by 2015, India will have the world's second largest user base, estimated at 330-370 million Internet users. This trend makes it all the more imperative that India incorporate into its legal system more effective measures to counter online piracy, including appropriate notice-and-takedown procedures and other efficient mechanisms for rights holders to seek removal of infringing content from websites, consistent with international best practices.
The high incidence of camcording in India underscores the importance of developing an effective legal framework to address this problem. India has one of the highest rates of video piracy in the world, according to the Motion Pictures Distributors Association of India (MPDA). Moreover, according to the Motion Picture Association (MPA), camcording incidents involving motion pictures produced by MPA member studios alone have risen rapidly over the past few years, with 155 forensic matches traced to India from 2009 to 2011. In 2013 alone, there were reportedly 43 such forensic matches, accounting for approximately half of all such incidents in the Asia-Pacific in that year. These incidents do not take into account camcording of films produced by non-MPA members, including many films produced in India and elsewhere in the world. The United States welcomes statements made by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting that it plans to include specific anti-camcording provisions in the draft Cinematographic Bill, and the support of the government of Andhra Pradesh that helped launch in 2013 the India Movie Cop app developed by that state's film industry.
The United States notes limited improvements with respect to copyright enforcement, including reports that enforcement officials cooperate with music industry rights holders in conducting complaint-based raids, and increased use of judicial orders that have strengthened enforcement against pirated movies and music online. The United States encourages India to take additional steps to improve coordination with enforcement officials of state governments within India.
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