TamilRockers tweets asking for money post ad ban by Tamil Film Producer’s Council

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Members of the company took to Twitter on the ban of all ad campaigns and tweeted to their viewers asking for donations to run their business.

One of the biggest threat Indian film industry is facing is piracy due to which the space runs into huge losses. While the industry is trying to fight off this menace, there is no stopping of those who are into this business. One such incident is from Tamil Nadu where Tamil Film Producer’s Council (TFPC) banned all ad campaigns to the piracy website TamilRockers but their response can be a shocker for the entertainment sector.

Members of the company took to Twitter on the ban of all ad campaigns and tweeted to their viewers asking for donations to run their business. They also said they will share their Paypal account and that viewers can directly message them to show their willingness.

https://twitter.com/rameshlaus/statu...90024793579521

This is not the first time that TamilRockers have come under the scanner. Earlier this year, members of the site were booked and arrested by the anti-piracy cell for uploading the pirated versions of Tamil, Telugu, English, Malayalam and other language films on their site. The site is said to have connection with international piracy rackets, too.

Tamil movie buffs have got a strong liking to this site with demand witnessing a sharp jump just before the release of Rajinikanth’s Kabali considering the high ticket prices early on.

TamilRockers is not the only website that has given sleepless nights to filmmakers and producers. The list includes many others.

Piracy is one of the major issues affecting the Indian film industry with an annual loss of substantial revenues, to the tune of Rs 18,000 crore every year.

Over time, movie piracy has shifted from CDs and DVDs to online platforms. The modus-operandi involves use of sophisticated smartphones and camcorders to record films in theatres and publish them on rogue websites.

Such websites and their operations are believed to be closely linked to the spread of malware and cyber-crime. They make money from advertisements and subscriptions and expose users to high risk advertising.

The latest challenge the industry is facing is leakage of pirated copies even before the official release of the film. In 2016 films such as Udta Punjab and Great Grand Masti faced the issue where a pirated version was available before the release date.

In an effort to protect their IP, some of the film production houses have started to get a John Doe order from court that puts onus on Internet Service Provider (ISP) to block access to rogue websites that facilitates pirate content.

A John Doe order is passed to protect intellectual property rights. The term is used as a reference to provide a title to an unknown or anonymous person, entity, organisation.

A “John Doe” in Bollywood productions copyright means case is initiated under Order 39 Rule 1 and 2 read with Section 161 of the CPC.

The Copyright Act, 1957 provides no person other than the applicant can deal with various rights in relation to the motion picture without the express authority of the applicant.

In 2016, Balaji Motion Pictures secured a John Doe court order against 830 websites that it were suspected of copyright infringement.

Other production houses like Eros International, Fox Star Studios, Red Chillies Entertainment and many more followed suit.