MUMBAI: The Alliance Against Copyright Theft (AACT), seized more than 106,000 pirated DVDs/CDs in North India and Mumbai over the last month.
On 29 September, 2010, the enforcement agency along with the local police, conducted a raid on a godown and wholesale shop in Ambala (Haryana) seizing 59740 pirated discs of recently released movies. They also made one arrest during the raid.
In a raid conducted on 25 September, 2010, the team seized 3481 pirated discs in Sector-7 Faridabad, Haryana.
On 6 October, 2010 AACT conducted a raid on a warehouse in Parbhani City (Maharashtra) seizing 15000 pirated discs of movies like Anjaana Anjaani, Robot, Dabaang, Peepli Live, Resident Evil 3D, Wall Street. They also got 1400 inlay cards during the raid.
In another large raid conducted in Chalisgaon (Maharashtra) on 11 October, 2010 the team seized 24516 pirated DVDs and made one arrest. More than 2000 DVDs of recently released movies like Do Dooni Char, Luva Kusa, Khichdi, Anjaana Anjaani, Robot, Dabangg were confiscated during the raid.
From September onwards, AACT has also been ensuring that they curb sale of pirated DVDs in key locations like Andheri station in Mumbai. The enforcement agency has kept a strict vigil on this area to close all stalls selling pirated discs. During the month they have also conducted raids outside the station to close any stalls that tried to reopen, seizing 2228 pirated discs. On 11 October, a joint team of Mumbai Police and AACT’s enforcement agency conducted a raid in DN Nagar, Andheri seizing more than 1050 discs.
The effectiveness of the raids conducted by AACT has improved since the launch of the toll free number earlier this year. Recently, the coalition initiated a anti-piracy campaign along with Ranbir Kapoor and Priyanka Chopra to curb piracy of their movie Anjaani Anjaani. AACT received more than 1500 calls during a span of 4-5 days around the launch of the movie.
MPAA-India managing director Rajiv Dalal said, “It is imperative that we continue to up the pressure not just on retailers of pirated goods but also their sources. We have made a conscious effort to identify warehouses and wholesalers of pirated DVDs, thereby intercepting the supply chain of the movie pirated.”
He added, “We are also very pleased that the association of Anjaana Anjaani along with AACT has been able to generate interest from the common man. There was marked reduction of the number of pirated discs available for this movie as compared to major releases earlier this year. Going forward we expect to pull in more star power to build awareness on our toll-free number and our various ongoing initiatives from AACT.”
Over the next few months, AACT is focusing on increasing the involvement from the common man and increasing pressure on vendors of pirated movies.
