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MUMBAI: Home video major Shemaroo continues its fight against the
biggest threat to its business - piracy. In two separate anti-piracy
raids conducted at Mira Road and Bandra a few days ago, the vigilance
team of Shemaroo Video seized pirated VCDs and DVDs worth over Rs
3.1 million.
The first raid at Vajreshwari Music Center in Mira Road yielded
a haul of 2000 pirated VCDs / DVDs, DVD players, DVD Writers and
a television. This also included 23 master copies of various films
- these being the copies from which "replication" is possible.
Replication is the act of making copies without loss of data and
quality. Generally, pirated master copies already have a bad quality,
resulting in poor copies that could damage players.
The second raid was conducted at the three stalls outside Bandra
Railway station. Stalls outside railway stations in Mumbai are notorious
for pirated Audio and Video CDs and this comes as an effort from
Shemaroo to curb piracy at the point of sale.
Rs 2.2 million worth pirated goods were seized from these stalls,
which included over 4000 DVDs. Senior PI
Kadri, PSI Pednekar conducted the raid and were instrumental in
making the raid possible because of their timely action. One Aftab
Alam Ansari was arrested.
Shemaroo VP Hiren Gada said, "Piracy is taking up almost 90
per cent of the market in home video sales. It is very important
that the Industry joins hands to curb this menace so that everyone
in the movie business can reap true benefits of their efforts."
The Shemaroo anti-piracy team carries out various vigilance activities
gathering information, surveillance and warning the pirates. The
team also gives information about dealing in legitimate products
and educates on the consequences of dealing in pirated video products.
Only when they cease to heed to all the warnings that Shemaroo raids
the outlet and takes action against the pirates.
Having an end-to-end objective in mind, Shemaroo says that it believes
that fighting anti-piracy will gradually increase the legitimate
home video market. Increased revenues can be shared with other people
involved in the entertainment industry, which will also help the
government get more taxes bringing a decrease in the black economy.
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