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K Sera Sera denies receiving any intimation from Viacom 18 on alleged piracy

Denying the charge of piracy, the company claims to have inspected the pirated DVDs for their hard-coded watermark and found it present only on one DVD which linked it to Prakash Cinema in Dabra, Madhya Pradesh

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K Sera Sera denies receiving any intimation from Viacom 18 on alleged piracy

K Sera Sera denies receiving any intimation from Viacom 18 on alleged piracy

Denying the charge of piracy, the company claims to have inspected the pirated DVDs for their hard-coded watermark and found it present only on one DVD which linked it to Prakash Cinema in Dabra, Madhya Pradesh

BestMediaInfo Bureau | Mumbai | January 13, 2017

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K Sera Sera Digital Cinema has denied having received any intimation from Viacom 18 or Cyber Cell department of Mumbai Police in connection to the piracy case that Viacom 18 had allegedly filed against it.

In our story dated January 12, ut was reported on the basis of a Viacom 18 press statement that Viacom 18 had taken K Sera Sera to Cyber Cops over piracy. It was also mentioned that the broadcaster had filed an FIR against their then digital integration firm, K Sera Sera, for online piracy of their movie 'Force 2'.

Soon after the publication of the report, K Sera Sera Digital yesterday released a statement which read: “As a responsible company operating in the Indian cinema space for over two decades, we have always worked along with other members of the industry to fight and stop piracy. As part of this practice we regularly conduct audits of various across cinema chains where our servers are installed to stem any attempt of piracy.”

The statement said that as part of one such audit, in November 2016, the company is said to have identified one such attempt at piracy of the movie Force 2. Details of the same are listed below on November 18, 2016, as part of the digital company's audit process, it purchased pirated DVDs of Force 2 from the market.

The statement further stated: “All the movies distributed by us contain an additional watermark which helps us in our audit process. We inspected these DVDs for our hard-coded watermark and found one of our watermarks on a DVD, linking to Prakash Cinema in Dabra, Madhya Pradesh. The piracy seemed to be on account of a camcorder in the cinema hall.”

The company took action in the following steps:

  • They immediately terminated the contract as well as access to the digital server for Prakash Cinema.
  • They also withdrew the physical server from Prakash Cinema to check for any other attempts of infringement.

On December 7, 2016, a complaint was filed in Amboli Police Station, Mumbai, against Prakash Cinema.

On the same day (December 7, 2016), the company intimated Viacom 18 about the entire matter with Prakash Cinema via an email, which also included a copy of the Police Complaint.

On December 8, 2016, a hard copy of the email to Viacom 18 along with the police complaint was hand delivered to Viacom 18. The receipt of the same has been acknowledged.

The company clarified in the media statement issued by them on Thursday, January 12: “As a part of the Indian film industry, we understand the treat caused to all stakeholders (including us) by piracy and upon intimation will extend complete cooperation to the concerned authorities in this matter.”

Info@BestMediaInfo.com

Info@BestMediaInfo.com

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