The Information and Broadcasting Ministry on Friday announced the appointment of nodal officers to receive complaints against piracy and take down pirated film content on digital platforms.

This comes after parliament passed the Cinematograph Amendment Act, 1952 during this year’s Monsoon Session act against pirated film content. The amendment was passed with the Centre noting that the film industry faced annual losses of up to Rs 20,000 crore because of piracy.

The amendment includes punishment of minimum three months imprisonment and a fine of Rs 3 lakh. This can be extended up to three years imprisonment and fine of up to 5% of the audited gross production cost.

Union Minister Anurag Thakur said that the nodal officers will act on complaints within hours. After receiving directions from the nodal officer, the digital platform will have to remove such internet links hosting the pirated content within 48 hours.

“These officers have been appointed in the Ministry of Information and Broadcast and in the offices of Central Board of Film Certification headquarters in Mumbai and its regional offices in major film production centres,” Thakur said. “The Act aimed to curb film piracy, a measure which has been a long-standing demand of the film industry, and the appointment of nodal officers is a major step in that direction.”

An original copyright holder or a person authorised by them can complain to the nodal officer to get the pirated content removed.

“If a complaint is raised by a person who does not hold the copyright or is not authorised by the copyright holder, the nodal officer can hold hearings on a case-by-case basis to decide the genuineness of the complaint before issuing the directions,” the ministry said.

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