Mumbai: The Cyber Crime Investigation Cell, BKC, Mumbai has registered an FIR against M/s. K Sera Sera Digital Cinema Ltd (K Sera Sera) upon a Complaint filed by Viacom18 Media Pvt. Ltd. (Viacom18) in relation to online piracy of its film ‘Force-2’.
The film Force-2 starring John Abraham, Sonakshi Sinha and Tahir Raj Bhasin was released on 18th November, 2016 and the pirated print of the film was found online on the same day. Viacom18 has alleged in the complaint that the film had been leaked online by K Sera Sera, thereby infringing Viacom18’s copyright in the film along with other offences committed by K Sera Sera under Information Technology Act, Copyright Act and Indian Penal Code.
K Sera Sera was one of the firms hired by Viacom18 for Digital Integration of its film ‘Force 2’, wherein the Digital Content Package (DCP) was sent to K Sera Sera before the release of the film. In order to tackle the menace of online piracy and identify the leak at source, Viacom18 had developed a pioneering internal security mechanism, involving the integration of unique identifiers in each copy of the film before the DCPs were distributed to the Digital Integrators.
Upon the release of the film, it was found that ‘Force-2’ was available in full length on various websites, for both unauthorized download and streaming, in a blatant act of movie piracy. Investigations by the Viacom18 team revealed that pirated copies originated from the one that was sent to K Sera Sera for Digital Integration.
The company spokesperson issued a statement stating, “It is really frustrating to suffer a loss due to online piracy as tremendous amount of money is invested in production, promotion and distribution of a film. This mechanism developed by us can trace the source of piracy and further strengthens our commitment to battle movie piracy. I believe that a concerted effort from the Indian film industry and support from the general public will go a long way in eradicating this illegal act. The Cyber Cell is presently investigating the offences complained of and it is likely to bust the nexus involved in this illegal activity. We hope the culprits are caught and brought to justice.”
Viacom18, through its film studio Viacom18 Motion Pictures, has produced and distributed some of the most iconic films like BhaagMilkhaBhaag, Queen, Mary Kom, Drishyam, Manjhi, etc. The organization has aggressively worked towards adding science into the art of movie-making with its use of data analytics for greenlighting movies and now with its pioneering internal security mechanism for tackling movie piracy.
