Ashok Kumar lends name to tool against movie piracy

By Manisha Singh Nair and Priya Anuragini, LexOrbis
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Decades after veteran actor Ashok Kumar charmed movie makers and viewers alike with his natural acting and effervescent personality, his name continues to resonate in the corridors of the entertainment industry courtesy of Ashok Kumar orders. Directed against nameless defendants, these orders are a judicially created copyright enforcement mechanism to rein in rampant piracy plaguing the entertainment sector in a world where technological innovations grant protective anonymity to specific culprits.

Legal innovation

While piracy has always been an arch-nemesis for Indian film makers, the problem is exacerbated in the digital world, where culprits who can never be identified accurately, or may be identified too late to be of any use, operate behind a veil of networks. Films, after all, have a limited shell life. And while film makers are busy securing an interim injunction, pirated content goes viral courtesy of file sharing websites and the damage is already done.

Manisha Singh
Manisha Singh

Even after a favourable order from the court, film makers are not able to control piracy effectively for the simple reason that the court order may not cover every potential violator and infringer. This is where Ashok Kumar orders, also referred as John Doe orders, come in (Ashok Kumar or John Doe being pseudonym for unknown infringers and violators). Based on the premise that “if litigating finger is directed at unknown defendants, the inability to identify him by name is a mere misnomer”, these orders are usually sought in a quia timet action before the movie release and cover both alleged and potential violators. They are particularly instrumental in preventing movie piracy through unauthorized websites, CDs or DVDs, cable networks, etc.

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Manisha Singh Nair is a founding partner of LexOrbis, where Priya Anuragini is an associate.

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