Monday, February 18, 2002		Article

PIRATES are getting hi-tech and what's more, they are advertising their stuff if leaflets and pamphlets distributed in Chandigarh is an indication. So a person, accessible only through a mobile phone number, promises that he can deliver any video or audio CD at your doorsteps.

Not only this, the pamphlet promises 90 minutes of selected song cassettes with CD recording for Rs 30 and any type of computer software and games CD for Rs 50. If purchased legally, such software could cost upto Rs. 50,000.

All you have to do is call a mobile number, talk to him and he delivers the software, games and songs burnt on a CD right at your doorsteps The only hitch is that you do not get a chance to meet the 'Indian Napster' personally and the mobile phone service provider is unwilling to either disclose the person's identity or the address as a policy matter.

When this correspondent rang up the number provided in the ad, a female voice at the other end promised to deliver all games like NBA Live 2001, MAX, Delta Force, DieHard besides software like FP Editor, QuarkXpress etc. But isn't this piracy? This correspondent asked. After much ho-hum, the woman who refused to divulge her office address but identified herself as Meenu, said that there is nothing wrong with this. 'You see, people have built showrooms on pirated stuff,' she reasons.

"This is cent per cent piracy," a senior official of the UT administration says. According to Section 14 of the Copyright Act, it is illegal to make or distribute copies of copyrighted software without proper or specific authorisation. The only exception is provided by Section 52 of the Act that allows a back-up copy purely as a temporary protection against loss, distribution or damage to the original copy.

The 1994 amendment to the Copyright Act also prohibits the sale or to give on hire, or offer for sale or hire, any copy of the computer program without specific authorisation of the copyright holder.

Collectively, software piracy is causing an annual loss of more than Rs 9 billion in the country. Indian law prohibits unauthorised duplication of software, making multiple copies for use by different users within an organisation, and giving an unauthorised copy to another individual. If caught with pirated software, the copyright infringer may be tried under both civil and criminal law.

A civil and criminal action may be instituted for injunction, actual damages (including infringer's profits), or statutory damages per infringement etc. With the amendments to Indian Copyright Act in 1994, even the criminal penalties have substantially increased. According to Section 63 B, now there is a minimum jail term of 7 days for copyright infringement. The Act further provides for fines up to Rs.2,00,000 and jail term up to three years or both.