Viacom18 ties up with CIPAM for anti-piracy campaign

[Len]

New Delhi, Aug 22 - Media firm Viacom18 today said it has tied up with the Cell for IPR Promotion and Management (CIPAM) to launch a campaign around protection of proprietary content and fight against piracy.

CIPAM is a professional body under the aegis of the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP).

As part of the partnership, the company has created awareness videos spreading the message of how piracy is equivalent to stealing.

The videos were broadcast at the three-day national workshop on enforcement of intellectual property rights.

The workshop is being organised to increase awareness about IP rights amongst officials of enforcement agencies such as police and customs.

"Intellectual Property Rights awareness is critical as far as India is concerned and the industry needs to partner with government to take it forward," Viacom18 Group General Counsel and Company Secretary Sujeet Jain told .

The workshop acts as a platform for the officials to share their experiences, encourage best practices and improve inter-agency coordination.

This exercise is part of the implementation of the national IPR policy, released by the government last year.

The policy lays down seven objectives, including awareness, generation of IPRs and legal and legislative framework.

Jain said: "We have seen our films like 'Manjhi', 'Force 2' and 'Toilet' available online either before the official release or just at the same time, due to which we are also losing a lot of revenue."

He further said this is a reason it is hard for studios to make money in India.

The company, which also owns Viacom18 Motion Pictures, had previously led a campaign against film piracy. PRJ ABM