As always, SXSW is chock-a-block with screenings—an adventurous and inexhaustible attendee has 111 films and 17 series to choose from—and some very big stars and a ton of intriguing filmmakers and TV creators are on hand to showcase their work.

The Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE), the world’s leading anti-piracy coalition, has filed two separate federal lawsuits today against individuals in California and Pennsylvania, each accused of operating illegal internet protocol television (IPTV) services.

Santiago Quiñones was a co-executive producer on Blue Bloods, CBS’s long-running police procedural that followed the Reagan family through their dynastic run within the NYPD.

The State of Tamil Nadu seems to be back with another set of regulations for real money games that has found divided opinion on whether this set of regulations should be challenged in Court.

The struggle between authors (writers, artists, musicians) and AI developers over the unauthorized and uncompensated use of copyrighted works to train AI applications continues, both in the courts (here is a summary of the current state of play in the US where most of the litigation is taking place) and in the political arena, such as the UK government’s latest initiative to put its thumb on the scale in favour of the AI industry, now slowed down by opposition within Parliament.

Sam Wilson returns in director Julius Onah’s Captain America: Brave New World, here to take on twin domestic threats.

Arguably the world’s most beloved (fictional) British immigrant, Paddington the Talking Bear arrived in London from South America in 2014 by way of the eponymous animated hit movie.

It seems as if I’ve been writing about site blocking (what I prefer to call “disabling access to offshore pirate content sites”, although this is a bit of a mouthful) forever, certainly since it was effectively pioneered by the UK, Australia and various EU countries a decade or more ago, followed later by Canada and others.

MPA to Highlight the State of the Industry, Fighting Digital Piracy, and Production in Texas

Alien: Romulus Visual Effects Supervisor Eric Barba and FX Designer Alec Gillis bring the past and future together.

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes took the franchise to new heights of photorealism and immersive filmmaking.

An introspective, promising teenager hitchhiking to college gets a ride in a car that turns out to be stolen.

Just nominated for his fourth Oscar for Dune: Part Two, VFX Supervisor Paul Lambert is a three-time Oscar winner—for Damien Chazelle’s First Man and two of director Denis Villeneuve’s films, Blade Runner 2049 and Dune: Part One.

Creative Content Australia’s 2023 Australian Piracy Behaviours and Attitudes Survey revealed that Australians who use illegal streaming sites are three times more likely to fall victim to identity theft, fraud, or hacking compared to those who rely solely on legal services.

By now, you’ve either seen or definitely heard about Emilia Pérez. If you haven’t yet seen the film, then likely the first thing you heard was about its accolades—it’s the most Oscar-nominated film of the year, 13 in all.

In this episode of Industry Spotlight by Creative First,  Gowree Gokhale, an Independent Legal Counsel and Advisor, and Lohita Sujith, delved into the nuances of the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 and the 2025 draft rules.

The Advertising Standards Council of India (“ASCI”) has published a whitepaper “Navigating Cookies – Recalibrating your cookie strategy in light of the DPDPA” (“Whitepaper”).

Named after a day that will live in infamy, September 5 (in theaters now) recounts the terrorist attack that killed 11 Israeli athletes during the 1972 Munich Olympics, as told from the perspective of ABC Sports broadcasters led by Roone Arledge (Peter Sarsgaard) and Geoff Mason (John Magaro).

On 11th August 2023, the Government notified the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 (“DPDP Act”) as the first dedicated data protection law of the country.

Early last week there was a flurry of articles, including one on Billboard, reporting on the strange case of Nova Scotia musician Ian Janes. Janes discovered that his Spotify artist profile included music that wasn’t his and which he hadn’t recorded.

The Subcommittee constituted by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (“MeitY”) has issued a Report on AI Governance Guidelines Development (“AI Governance Report”) for public consultation.

In a significant development, the Indian Performing Rights Society (IPRS) has on 21.01.2025 received its renewal certificate of registration under Section 33 of the Copyright Act, 1957.

Year-Long Program Offers Unparalleled Access to Entertainment Law, Policy, and Major Studios

Australian director Michael Gracey skyrocketed to success after releasing his debut feature, the 2017 Hugh Jackman-led musical The Greatest Showman.

Leading Media Company Dedicated to Upholding Intellectual Property Rights in the Region

Canada infamously tried to take a leaf from Australia’s book in dealing with large internet platforms, like Google and Meta, that benefit from news media content without paying for it.

On 3rd January 2025, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (“MeitY”) issued the Draft Digital Personal Data Protection Rules, 2025 (“Draft DPDP Rules”) for public consultation until 18th February 2025.

Recently in Dipak Ranjan Mukherjee v. Ministry of Commerce & Industry[i] certain information was requested under the Right to Information Act, 2005, regarding compliance records, government letters received, and guidelines for tariff schemes issued by the Indian Performing Rights Society (IPRS).

J.A. Bayona’s Society of the Snow, a reimagining of the real-life 1972 Uruguayan plane crash in the Andes Mountains that caught the world’s attention, is a viscerally astonishing feat of empathetic filmmaking.

Agatha All Along creator Jac Schaeffer explores the witchy side of the Marvel Universe just in time for Halloween.

A retrospective on the year now coming to a close is what one expects this time of year, so I will try not to disappoint. However, when I look back at the copyright developments I wrote about in 2024, the dominant issues that jump out are AI, AI and AI.

Recently in the case of Akshat Baldwa v. Maddock Films[i], a petition was filed requesting accessibility features in the movies “Stree 2” and “Auro Mein Kahan Dum Tha” with respect to their OTT release.

Vietnam-based Markkystreams[dot]com and 137 Associated Domains Comprise Largest Live Sports Piracy Operation Takedown to Date

In this Industry Spotlight with Creative First, Munjal Shroff, Co-Founder of Graphiti Multimedia Pvt. Ltd., joined Lohita Sujith, Sr. Director, Copyright & Digital Economy, Motion Picture Association, to discuss his journey in creating groundbreaking children's content and reviving Indian cultural heritage through animation.

In this Industry Spotlight with Creative First, Ashish Kulkarni, Founder Punnaryug Artvision and AVGC industry veteran joined Lohita Sujith, Sr. Director, Copyright & Digital Economy, Motion Picture Association, to discuss AVGC and technology in India.

In this Industry Spotlight with Creative First, Ujwal Nirgudkar, Chairman of SMPTE India and member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, joined Lohita Sujith, Sr. Director, Copyright & Digital Economy, Motion Picture Association, to discuss India’s efforts to preserve and restore cinematic heritage.

Preservation of an art form happens when it is showcased to an audience, especially to one that may not go to museums or read about it voluntarily.

In this Industry Spotlight with Creative First, Writer, Director, Producer & Filmmaker Anup Singh joined Lohita Sujith, Sr. Director, Copyright & Digital Economy, Motion Picture Association, to discuss his creative journey, the influence of Film Bazaar on his work, and the evolution of his storytelling.

“Every aspect of the visual language that we built always came from being rooted in the script,” cinematographer Jomo Fray tells The Credits about director RaMell Ross’s moving film Nickel Boys.

A film or TV set is usually powered almost exclusively by diesel generators. These generators were loud, hot, large, environmentally unfriendly, and often used at such a low capacity that they were practically idling.

Gladiator II picks up fifteen years following the events of Russell Crowe’s portrayal of Maximus Decimus Meridius in Gladiator (2000), an epically visceral film from Ridley Scott that not only won five Oscars.

She won an Oscar for outfitting the first Gladiator, and 20 years later, costume designer Janty Yates once again teamed with Ridley Scott to cloak ancient Rome’s ruling class in bespoke finery.

As the film industry focuses on its responsibility to clearly label content that depicts smoking while avoiding any promotion of smoking in films, health authorities—in their understandable desire to curtail tobacco consumption—sometimes overzealously impose unrealistic conditions in pursuit of public health ends.

Black hat seated atop her head, Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo) peers around the corner of the Ozdust ballroom, excited to attend her first party ever.

The Kerala High Court in O. P. Ashraf v The State of Kerala and Others[1] (can be accessed here) has held that the prosecution could not establish the necessary ingredients which constitute copyright infringement under Section 51(a) of the Copyright Act, 1957.

A dispute arose between the Shorts International Limited (“SIL”) and Google for the use of the term “Shorts” (as used in YouTube Shorts).

If you’re in the mood for a visually stunning film with gladiators battling to the death in a flooded Colosseum and a very ripped Paul Mescal going head-to-head with a rhinoceros and a baboon, Ridley Scott’s pulse-pounding period actioner is the movie you’ve been waiting for.

Before Wicked, British production designer Nathan Crowley worked on eight Christopher Nolan movies, earning six Oscar nominations along the way.

As I reflect on my first 100 days leading the Motion Picture Association’s (MPA) Content Protection team, I’m energized about what we’ve already accomplished together and excited about the path forward.

Embracing Old Hollywood and a plethora of source material, cinematographer Alice Brooks knew her Wicked vision for Oz would be rich and luxurious

In July, the Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic (CIPPIC) at the University of Ottawa filed an application in the Federal Court to expunge or amend a Canadian copyright registration that claimed an AI program, the RAGHAV AI Painting App, as co-author of a registered work.

In this Industry Spotlight with Creative First, award-winning director and screenwriter Amit Masurkar joined Lohita Sujith, Sr. Director, Copyright & Digital Economy, Motion Picture Association, to discuss his evolution in the Indian film industry, from writing Murder 3 to directing acclaimed films like Newton and Sherni.

We spend a lot of time talking about piracy at CreativeFuture. It’s kind of our thing. But rarely do we get the chance to speak with someone who is on the front lines protecting creatives from those stealing their work.

When he was nine years old, James M. Churchman bought his first motorcycle and started riding the backroads of his native Florida.

Last week I wrote about Stephen Thaler’s quixotic and determined approach to obtain copyright registration in the US for his AI generated artwork, “A Recent Entrance to Paradise”, created (he claims) exclusively by his AI “machine”, the so-called Creativity Machine.

Justice A.S. Chandurkar of the Bombay High Court delivered his final verdict on 20.09.2024 as the third referral judge over the issue of constitutionality of Rule 3(1)(b)(v) of the 2023 amendment of Information Technology Rules, 2021

One of the ongoing debates about works made with generative AI is whether they qualify for copyright protection. Should they? Let’s consider the essence of copyright.

In a landmark judgement, the Bombay High Court, on 26th September 2024, struck down the amendment to Rule 3(1)(b)(v) of the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules (“IT Rules 2021”) and declared it as unconstitutional.

Actor-turned-director Dev Patel, best known for his breakthrough role in Slumdog Millionaire, received a well-earned standing ovation for his directorial feature debut, Monkey Man, at the SXSW Film & TV Festival in Austin Texas this past March. His thrilling, kinetic debut went on to win the Headliners Audience Award.

I am a lifelong non-smoker, although this is more by luck than design. When the other kids were lighting up behind the school, I joined them.

New research prepared by Frontier Economics on behalf of the Motion Picture Association (MPA) credits the South Korean government’s supportive policy environment and proactive efforts in copyright protection as key factors behind the growth and success of K-content.

The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on 13th September 2024 released the draft Cigarette and other Tobacco Products Amendment Rules, 2024, (“Draft Amendment Rules”) under the Cigarettes and other Tobacco Products Act, 2003.

Ah Goa!. Spectacular sunsets, beautiful beaches, fish curry and crumbling 16th century Catholic cathedrals deep in the jungle. I fondly recall a couple of visits in past years.

Much has been said by now about the landmark takedown of the Fmovies syndicate by the Vietnamese authorities, supported by ACE as well as our partners from both the public and private sectors.

While the Telecommunications Act, 2023 (“Telecom Act”) has been notified on 24th December 2024, it will come into force in a phased manner. The Ministry of Communications, vide gazette notifications dated 26th June 2024 and 4th July 2024, has brought into effect certain sections of the Telecom Act.

It is a foggy Friday when a report out of the US heaps praise on Canada for anything in the area of intellectual property.

MPA Chairman and CEO Charles Rivkin Brings on Association’s Second New Member During Seven-Year Tenure.

ACTION IS LATEST IN STRING OF MASSIVE MENA PIRACY TAKEDOWNS OVER PAST TWO YEARS.

In Vishesh Films Private Limited v. Super Cassettes Industries Limited,[i] the Delhi High Court has restrained film production company T-Series from using titles “Tu Hi Aashiqui”, “Tu Hi Aashiqui Hai” and “Aashiqui” in respect of an upcoming film.

Since this is a copyright blog, I am guessing that most of my readers will be saying to themselves, “I know the difference between trademark and copyright; doesn’t everyone?”.

“It was one of the most stress-free jobs I’d ever done,” cinematographer Shane Hurlbut tells The Credits during a video call about the Netflix murder mystery The Perfect Couple.

FIFTH SUCCESSFUL DRAGON MART RAID SINCE NOVEMBER RESULTS IN TWO ARRESTS AND SEIZURE OF ILLICIT IPTV DEVICES

What happens when a charming AI device makes itself indispensable to an unsuspecting family of five? In Chris Weitz‘s new horror film Afraid, the smooth-talking “AIA” aims for nothing short of total domination.

“Into the Future: Creativity and Innovation in the Audiovisual Industry”
Remarks as prepared for delivery by MPA EMEA President and Managing Director Stan McCoy

Back in 2021 I wrote a mixed review of the revisions brought in to update Singapore’s Copyright Act.

In Phonographic Performance Limited[i] and Sonotek Cassettes Company[ii] v. State of Goa, the Bombay High Court heard a petition filed by Phonographic Performance Limited and Sonotek (collectively, for ease, “PPL”) under Article 226 of the Constitution, seeking to quash and set aside a circular issued on 30th January 2024 by the State of Goa (“Circular”).

FMOVIES AND ASSOCIATED DOMAINS LOGGED OVER 6.7 BILLION VISITS BETWEEN JANUARY 2023 AND JUNE 2024

The 49th edition of the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) will take place from September 5-15, 2024.

In the last installment of our conversation with Deadpool & Wolverine’s second unit director and stunt coordinator George Cottle, we covered the hysterical dance/action opening sequence and what it took to shoot the bone-crunching brawl inside a real Honda Odyssey minivan.

“Suck it Fox, I’m going to Disney World!” So declares our favorite fourth-wall-breaking antihero, Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds), in Shawn Levy’s hilariously meta threequel, Deadpool & Wolverine, which is back in the #1 spot domestically for the fourth weekend.

Rivkin delivers opening keynote address at annual convention of the Association of Film Commissioners International.

Over the course of 27 years at the FBI, I worked with law enforcement partners at home and abroad to take down illicit networks and put criminals behind bars.

We had the pleasure of hosting two panels this year—check out our first panel here— ahead of the 2024 Emmy Awards, which will be held live on ABC on Sunday, September 15, from 8-11 ET.

We had the pleasure of hosting two panels this year—check out our second panel here— ahead of the 2024 Emmy Awards, which will be held live on ABC on Sunday, September 15, from 8-11 ET.

Sarah Anderson, Kelly McKernan, and Karla Ortiz, all artists, had sued Stability AI Ltd., DeviantArt, Inc., and Midjourney, Inc., claiming that their copyrighted works were unlawfully used to train AI platforms without permission.

The ongoing financial tug-of-war between large tech/social media platforms and news media outlets, with governments trying to play a mediator/arbitrator role, has taken another turn with the announcement that California has cut a deal with Google, similar in principle to the one reached in Canada at the end of last year.

Director Justin Baldoni’s film adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s hit novel, It Ends With Us, in which Baldoni also stars as vicious neurosurgeon Ryle, is a surprise hit of the summer.

A couple of weeks ago I provided my interpretation of the results of the recent Federal Court case, Blacklock’s Reporter v Attorney General of Canada.

From Hollywood to Bollywood, Benetone Films has provided production services for over 100 feature films, TV series, and 1,000 TV commercials in over two decades.

n Arijit Singh v. Codible Ventures LLP[i], the Bombay High Court restrained third parties, such as AI platforms, restaurants, merchandise sellers, virtual music events, etc., from violating the personality rights of the renowned Bollywood singer Arijit Singh.

Creative Content Australia (CCA) has launched a new anti-piracy campaign with the support of Australia’s media industry to warn consumers of the risks of watching TV, film and live sport on unofficial sites.

ANIMEFLIX EXCLUSIVELY STREAMED ANIME CONTENT, LOGGED AS MANY AS 13 MILLION MONTHLY VISITS.

Creative Content Australia (CCA) has launched a new anti-piracy campaign with the support of Australia’s media industry to warn consumers of the risks of watching TV, film and live sport on unofficial sites.

ACE FINALIZES SETTLEMENTS WITH THREE OPERATORS WHO AGREE TO PAY OVER $2 MILLION COLLECTIVELY FOR COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT.

Moviegoers apparently love an underdog, at least when it takes the form of Ryan Reynolds’ Avengers wannabe Wade “Deadpool” Wilson.

Even if Deadpool & Wolverine hadn’t become the year’s top-grossing movie, self-described comics nerd-turned-screenwriter Zeb Wells would have been thrilled just for the opportunity to furnish Ryan Reynolds’ Deadpool character with snarky wise-cracks.

In an order dated August 29, 2023, the High Court of Punjab in Sajjan Kumar Duhan v. Shehnaaz Kaur @ Shehnaaz Gill (CR No.1855 of 2024), observed that the contract entered into between the singer Shehnaaz Gill and Simran Music Industries could not be considered valid or binding on Shehnaaz.

Anyone who has been following this case, Blacklock’s Reporter v Attorney General of Canada, might be scratching their heads about now, saying, “Wait a minute, didn’t I just read the exact opposite somewhere?”. Yes, if you were reading Michael Geist’s blog, that is precisely what you read.

We publish a lot of content here at CreativeFuture, on all manner of topics related to piracy, copyright, and the fight for the rights of creatives in the digital age.

In Part 3 of the Series, we explored the output side of things – showing how if the output generated by the Generative AI model is substantially similar or a trivial alteration, or an adaptation in a different format of a work, it may infringe the rights of the copyright owner.

The Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE), the world’s leading anti-piracy coalition, commends the Vietnamese court and local law enforcement for the conviction of the three operators of the illegal streaming websites bilutvt.net, tvhayh.org, and hlss.pro in a case in which various ACE members were complainants.

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about Copyright in Cottage Country, and how those wet afternoons are often occupied with cards or board games, like Scrabble, Clue or Cranium, all of which (the board games, that is) are copyrighted (and trademarked).

Catastrophic weather struck a chord with moviegoers over the weekend when Twisters blew apart box office expectations and raked in a whopping $81 million for its debut.

For editor Terilyn A. Shropshire, Twisters was a homecoming. Director Lee Isaac Chung shot the satisfying popcorn picture on 35mm, and Shropshire, who cut her teeth on 8mm, 16mm, and 35mm, was thrilled to see flash frames again on Twisters.

In the case of Nipun Malhotra v. Sony Pictures Films India Private Limited (Civil Appeal No. 7230 of 2024), the Supreme Court laid down a framework and guidelines for portraying persons with disabilities in cinema and visual media aligning with anti-discrimination and dignity affirming objectives of Indian Constitution and Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016.

At Childnet, young people’s voice is at the centre of everything we do, and nowhere is this more apparent than the Childnet Film Competition.

In the first two posts in this series, we addressed Copyright concerns raised by Generative AI, primarily at the stage of training the LLM as well as using certain datasets.

The Recording Industry Association of America (“RIAA / Plaintiff”) filed two lawsuits against AI music generators, Suno and Udio (“the Platforms”), on behalf of record labels including Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group’s UMG Recordings, and Warner Records Inc, and various others.

For anyone who may have noticed (hopefully you did), I have not posted a blog for a couple of weeks. I am invoking that blanket summertime excuse, “I’ve been up at the cottage”.

J.A. Bayona’s Society of the Snow, a reimagining of the real-life 1972 Uruguayan plane crash in the Andes Mountains that caught the world’s attention, is a viscerally astonishing feat of empathetic filmmaking.

Imagine a world where wrongs are prevented before they happen. Sounds utopian, right? Well. It may be but don’t forget that defining “wrong” is as complex as it gets and “who” defines it, adds another layer of suspicion.

Mark Molloy is just as much a fan of Beverly Hill Cop as you are. Growing up, the Australian native had an Axel Foley poster pinned to his bedroom wall and turned that into helming the fourth installment of the franchise.

On 15th March 2024, the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting notified the Cinematograph (Certification) Rules, 2024 (“2024 Cinematograph Rules”) under the Cinematograph Act, 1952 (“Cinematograph Act”).

When John Krasinki released A Quiet Place in 2018, the sonically immersive horror film made audiences hold their breath.

Director Juan Antonio Bayona Receives MPA Creator Award, European Investment Bank Group President Nadia Calviño Receives MPA Industry Champion Award, Spanish National Police Receives Inaugural MPA Creative Protector Award

During the recent MPA American Film Night at the Shanghai International Film Festival, the 15th annual MPA APSA Academy Film Fund was announced open for submissions.

As we approach July 1, Canada Day, Canada’s 157th anniversary, it is worth reflecting on the history that shaped this wonderful if imperfect country of now 41 million.

Federal prosecutors secured a major victory this week after a jury in Las Vegas convicted the former operators of Jetflicks, an illegal streaming site, of multiple counts of criminal copyright infringement.

Inside Out earned its co-writer Meg LeFauve a Best Screenplay Oscar nomination en route to becoming 2015’s seventh-highest-grossing movie.

The Supreme Court order dated May 7, 2024 in the case of Indian Medical Association & Anr. v. Union of India & Ors, Writ Petition (C) No. 645/2022, mandated establishment of a Self-Declaration mechanism for advertisements.

Amidst an epidemic of loneliness and isolation, audiences united in crowning Baby Reindeer the breakout hit TV series of the year.

Ke Huy Quan was driving when he got a call from Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige two years ago.

In the past week, two films have faced stays in India from different courts, raising significant concerns about sanctity of the CBFC certificate, the state of free speech and its implications for democracy.

On May 7, 2024, the Supreme Court in Indian Medical Association & Anr. v. Union of India & Ors.,[i] issued a directive that requires all advertisers / advertising agencies to submit a “Self-Declaration Certificate” before publishing or broadcasting any advertisement on certain platforms. Read our earlier coverage here.

In the Bridgerton universe, imagination is key. One of the reasons the show skyrocketed in popularity since its season one debut is that it’s a romance and a period drama reimagined.

In Inside Out 2 (in theaters June 14), Riley (voiced by Kensington Tallman) is off to hockey camp in the summer before high school, no longer the little girl we remember from the sensational introduction we got nine years ago in Inside Out.

Google, the “indispensable” search engine relied on by millions for accurate and reliable search, has done it again, stepping smack into the pile of steaming excrement waiting for it in the middle of the road.

As summer shimmers just ahead and another school year wraps up, we take time now to reflect on the fire looks our teachers were serving.

In the fourth time around for Will Smith and Martin Lawrence’s wise-cracking Miami detectives, Bad Boys: Ride or Die, now in theaters, earns its summer popcorn movie bonafides with loads of goofy banter and antic action sequences.

Fans of Star Wars have been eagerly anticipating their newest live-action series, The Acolyte, which features all-new characters in a tense and action-filled story that explores the light and dark sides of the force, as well as many grey areas in between.

The Motion Picture Association (MPA) and the Entertainment Industry College Outreach Program (EICOP) today announced the upcoming class of the MPA-EICOP Entertainment Law & Policy Fellowship program.

A pioneer of animation in Thailand, producer Auchara Kijkanjanas is no stranger to copyright infringement. The founder and head of Big Brain Studio produced the nation’s first big animation hit, which was pirated shortly after it was released.

Ron Howard’s documentary Jim Henson: Idea Man, out May 31st on Disney+, is not only a tribute to the beloved, brilliant creator of the Muppets but feels like an artistic reflection of the creator’s own work.

In my last blog post, I discussed the annual Special 301 Report issued by the Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR).

The Delhi High Court safeguarded the personality and publicity rights of actor Jackie Shroff and has restrained various entities, including e-commerce stores, Artificial Intelligence (“AI”) chatbots, and social media accounts, from using Shroff’s name, image, voice, and likeness without his explicit consent.

CRIMINAL ACTION IS FIRST IN SPAIN AGAINST OPERATION OF THIS SIZE, RESULTING IN MULTIPLE ARRESTS AND DISRUPTION OF TVMUCHO/TEEVEEING IPTV SERVICE

Good evening, everyone. I’m Charlie Rivkin, Chairman and CEO of the Motion Picture Association.

Nine years after Mad Max: Fury Road star Charlize Theron wreaked havoc as bad-ass adult Furiosa, director George Miller revisits his post-apocalyptic nightmare with Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (in theaters now).

Having first considered the question of whether storing copyrightable works for training purposes is reproduction that amounts to copyright infringement under Section 51 of the Indian Copyright Act, 1957.

Chris Pratt voices the iconic, lasagna-loving star of director Mark Dindal’s The Garfield Movie, which uses Garfield’s love of Italian cuisine and the indoors as a jumping-off point for an origin and adventure story in one.

Apart from the budding of leaves, the rites of spring are marked by another annual phenomenon, the issuance of the annual Special 301 Report by the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR), widely known as the USTR Watch List.

Written and directed by John Krasinski, IF is a fantastical inverse of Krasinski’s A Quiet Place and A Quiet Place Part II.

From time to time, Alliance in Action will spotlight an ACE member to further explore the global impact of digital piracy in the context of a recent ACE action.

The events in Wes Ball’s Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes take place 300 years after the death of Caesar (Andy Serkis), the focus of the previous Apes trilogy kickstarted by director Rupert Wyatt in 2011 and then led by director Matt Reeves for the final two films.

Copyright enforcement mechanisms play a crucial role in safeguarding the rights of copyright owners. Various digital platforms, including YouTube, have implemented systems to address copyright infringement challenges.

“Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendía was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice.”

“The Power of Film – Creating Social Impact through Storytelling” Remarks as Delivered by MPA Chairman and CEO Charles Rivkin.

Profile 2023 is the 27th edition of the annual economic report prepared by Nordicity for the Canadian Media Producers Association (CMPA) and its various project partners over the years.

Wow Point CEO and executive producer Yoomin Hailey Yang is blazing a trail for young female producers in the Korean film and TV industry.

Hollywood couldn’t have found a more perfect director for Ryan Gosling’s stuntman rom-com The Fall Guy (in theaters now) than David Leitch. A body double-turned-stunt supervisor on dozens of movies, including John Wick, he understood the stunt world firsthand before moving into the director’s chair for Deadpool 2 and Bullet Train.

On 18th January 2023, the Advertising Standards Council of India (“ASCI”) issued the Guidelines for Advertisements Making Environmental/Green Claims (“Green Claims Guidelines”) which are effective from 15th February 2024.

Two years ago, in April 2022, the US Copyright Office (USCO) appointed its first Chief Economist, Dr. Brent Lutes. Many national Intellectual Property Offices have such a position, e.g, UK IPO, IP Australia, EUIPO, and WIPO.

The scope of copyright liability of Generative AI (‘genAI’) models is a hot topic globally. Copyright issues that stem out of genAI technology can be categorized into four heads.

A three-time Oscar nominee, Mark Stoeckinger has worked on five of the six features by stuntman-turned-director David Leitch, starting with 2017’s action thriller Atomic Blonde.

What would you, as a film producer do, if someone came to you and said “I saw something in your movie trailer, but I did not see it in the movie. Pay me 60k for my agony.”

Today is World IP Day, and I can’t think of a more fitting time to launch ACE’s new blog, Alliance in Action.

Dev Patel’s directorial debut, Monkey Man, is a kinetic, deeply felt revenge story set in Mumbai, a world that is rarely depicted with such punishing, propulsive energy and passion.

Following criminal referrals by the Premier League and the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE), on April 19 the People’s Court of Hanoi handed down Vietnam’s first-ever criminal sentence for online copyright infringement against Le Hai Nam, the operator of the illegal IPTV subscription service, BestBuy IPTV.

The clarification given in Novex Communications Pvt Ltd. v. Trade Wings Hotels Limited,[i] that owners of sound recordings can issue licenses without registering as a copyright society, is significant as it has created a lot of momentum in the music licensing space in India.

If you listen to this song, it is easy to think that the song was made by Drake, but the truth is it wasn’t. That, was an AI generated song, uploaded a few months ago, and has since raised some important questions.

From his early days producing direct-to-video slasher films, to being a major figure in the independent cinema movement of the 1990s, Richard Gladstein has built a reputation as a champion of filmmakers.

Hello everyone: As you just heard, preserving the magic of movies is what motivates me to lead the Motion Picture Association every day and attend CinemaCon with you each spring.

It is rare that a copyright story makes the national news, in Canada or elsewhere, but this one had all the needed ingredients. A teacher exploiting students, irate parents, and a possibly negligent school board. What’s not to like?

The scope of 3 Body Problem is planetary. Adapted by Game of Thrones creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, alongside Alexander Woo, Netflix’s ambitious sci-fi series presents a grand depiction of a war between humanity and aliens.

In this Industry Spotlight with Ashish Pherwani , Partner - India for Media & Entertainment at Ernst & Young,  and Lohita Sujith, Sr. Director, Copyright & Digital Economy, Motion Picture Association, discussed the future of media and entertainment in India.

Recently, the Supreme Court of India, stayed the Fact Check Unit notification issued by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) on March 20, 2024.

On Friday, April 5, composer Charles Fox was awarded a star on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame in recognition of his remarkable career creating themes for television series like Love, American Style, Happy Days, The Love Boat, scores for more than 100 movies like Foul Play and 9 to 5, and the Grammy-winner, “Killing Me Softly With His Song.”

Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire is a vision as large and in charge as its two titular characters. In this MonsterVerse sequel, director Adam Wingard and cinematographer Ben Seresin (Pain & Gain) not only doubled down but quadrupled down on the robust vibrancy of Godzilla v Kong.

The Ministry of Information & Broadcasting (MIB) recently on 15th March 2024 introduced guidelines aimed at enhancing accessibility standards for persons with hearing and visual impairments in the public exhibition of feature films in cinema theatres. Read Guidelines here.

No, this flag is not an April Fool’s joke, although I am posting this on April 1. As a flag design, it’s a dog’s breakfast. Not that a registered design has to be aesthetically appealing, but it needs to be original.

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire has a visual style reminiscent of the iconic 1984 film, a palette cinematographer Eric Steelberg (Ahsoka, Hawkeye) intentionally crafted for this story that sees characters new and old strap on a proton pack to bust a chilling demon terrorizing their city.

Members of the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE), the world’s leading anti-piracy coalition, filed a civil copyright infringement lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas today against William Freemon, the operator of an illegal internet protocol television (IPTV) service based out of Dallas.

In part one of our interview with Dune: Part Two cinematographer Greig Fraser, the Oscar-winner took us on a trip to the planet of Giedi Prime, home to the vampiric Harkonnen clan, to reveal how he captured that bloodless light during Feyd-Rautha (Austin Butler)’s gladiator scene.

In December 2023, the European Union (“European Union”) took a significant step forward in addressing concerns about artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning technologies.

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) recently on 15th March, 2024 issued a revised advisory concerning the deployment of artificial intelligence (AI) models by Intermediaries.[i]

My curiosity was piqued by the email that popped up in my inbox. “DMCA Copyright Infringement Notice”. Should I open it or ignore it? I took the plunge.

The panelists on stage at the law firm Greenberg Traurig for a discussion held in conjunction with the Motion Picture Association during the 74th Berlin International Film Festival represented a notable list of luminaries from across the film and television industry.

“I like the fact that there’s something a little bit strange in what we do,” production designer Jan Houllevigue tells The Credits about his collaboration with director Johan Renck (Chernobyl).

Netflix took on producing the live-action remake of the long-running, beloved Nickelodeon animation Avatar: The Last Airbender, about four elemental kingdoms (fire, air, water, and earth) who live in harmony until the Fire Nation starts a war to take over the world.

Disney+ just released an exciting new 6-part animated series called Iwájú, representing the first collaboration with an outside studio in its partnership with Pan-African storytelling company Kugali Media.

Japan has always been known for its strong creative sector and rich cultural output, from animé to manga to literature, music and film, and for its respect for intellectual property (IP) and the rights of creators.

The Creator‘s Oscar-nominated supervising sound editors, Erik Aadahl and Ethan Van der Ryn, had a dream experience creating the soundscape for director Gareth Edwards‘ vision of a nightmarish future.

For those of you who may have missed it, this is “Fair Use and Fair Dealing” week, sponsored once again this year by the Association of Research Libraries in the US and the Canadian Association of Research Libraries in Canada.

The Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE), the world’s leading anti-piracy coalition, today announced Venezuelan TV provider Simpletv as its newest member, bolstering its efforts to fight piracy in Latin America.

One of the year’s Oscar Cinderella stories is the best documentary nomination for director Nisha Pahuja’s To Kill a Tiger.

How do you make fire feel endearing rather than scary? And how do you turn water into a gusher of emotions? Those were key questions faced by director Peter Sohn when he set forth to make Elemental.

At a time when streaming services (also referred to as subscription video on demand, or SVOD) are growing internationally at a frenzied pace, various countries are pondering how to deal with this phenomenon, particularly when it comes to local production.

Bob Marley’s family has been trying to create and release a narrative that celebrates the beloved Jamaican performer’s life and music for decades.

The Royal Thai Police’s Economic Crimes Department (ECD), with support from the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE), has raided four locations in Bangkok, Surin Province and Surat Thani.

Artists create amazing songs, but record labels often want to own the rights to the music. This means they control how the music is distributed, sold, and used in other ways.

Part one of director Zach Snyder’s Netflix space epic, Rebel Moon — A Child of Fire, opens on a quaint farming community on a peaceful moon called Veldt.

On 24th January, 2024, the Bombay High Court, has passed a detailed judgment in the batch of Novex Communications Private Ltd. v. Trade Wings Hotels Limited and connected matters, holding Novex Communications as well as Phonographic Performance Limited (PPL) to be entities.

TAIPEI DISTRICT COURT ISSUES SIGNIFICANT JAIL TERMS TO FOUR OPERATORS, THE LONGEST EVER FOR COPYRIGHT OFFENSES

On 10th November 2023, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (“MIB”) published, and invited stakeholder comments on, the Broadcasting Services (Regulation) Bill, 2023 (“the Broadcasting Bill”).

EGYPT-BASED CIMA4U LOGGED A COMBINED 30 MILLION MONTHLY VISITS ACROSS NEARLY 500 DOMAINS

Tran Thi Bich Ngoc is an established Vietnamese film producer with a long track record of success and an eye for great stories.

Thailand’s leading pay-tv provider, have shut down all domains associated with piracy streaming site Uhuseries.com and the Piracy-as-a-Service (PaaS) website Iamtheme.com. Both sites were operated out of Thailand.

On 24th December 2023, the Telecommunications Bill, 2023 received the President of India’s assent after passage in both houses of the parliament and became a law i.e., The Telecommunications Act, 2023 (“Telecom Act”).

The extended period set by the Canadian Government (through Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada, ISED) for response to its consultation paper on Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Copyright closed on January 15.

Imagine a future where the voice of a legendary singer, long deceased, is brought back to life to sing new songs. With the advent of AI voice cloning, this future is not just a possibility but a looming reality.

There has been lots of ink spilled over the issue of Artificial Intelligence (AI) developers free riding on the backs of creators by copying and ingesting their content without permission to produce AI “created” content, output that sometimes competes directly in the market with the original work.

“The action evolves with the story — I’m not trying to invent action just to invent the next big stunt. It’s got to be emotionally engaging through action and fit the character,” says second unit director and stunt choreographer Wade Eastwood of Mission: Impossible’s brand of character-driven action choreography.

There is no better way to start out the New Year, 2024, with a commentary on Artificial Intelligence (AI) and copyright. It was the big emerging issue in 2023 and is going to be even bigger in 2024.

Spanning four decades of love, art, and loss, the tortured yet deeply moving marriage of American composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein (Bradley Cooper) and Costa Rican actress Felicia Montealegre Bernstein (Carey Mulligan), serves as the crux of Cooper’s sophomore directorial offering.

*It’s our annual “Best of the Year” look back at some of our favorite interviews from the year. An elite force of female soldiers, the Agojie, is all that stands between the African Kingdom of Dahomey and the combined forces of the Oyo Empire and Mahi people.

*It’s our annual “Best of the Year” look back at some of our favorite interviews from the year. For Ahsoka cinematographer Eric Steelberg, lensing the latest live-action Star Wars series was a dream come true.

Around this time of year, I typically write a blog post looking back at the big content issues over the past year and peek forward at the coming 12 months, in Canada, the US and elsewhere.

When Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse was released five years ago, its web of 2D and 3D animation became a box office hit and went on to win the Oscar for best animated feature.

Robert Oppenheimer (Cillian Murphy) stares wide-eyed into the pond spread out in front of him; his last conversation with Albert Einstein (Tom Conti) on the potential catalytic effects of the atomic bomb has rendered him speechless.

Danish cinematographer Dan Laustsen has been shooting movies for forty years, earning two Oscar nominations along the way for his contributions to Guillermo del Toro’s films The Shape of Water and Nightmare Alley.

There’s a famous line in Alice Walker’s 1982 novel The Color Purple that goes: “I think it pisses God off if you walk by the color purple in a field somewhere and don’t notice it.” It’s a message that even God can become annoyed when people overlook the wonderful things he creates. One such creation is what the character of Celie represents.

For production designer Nathan Crowley, whose impressive list of credits includes The Dark Knight, The Greatest Showman, and First Man, creating director Paul King’s deliciously appetizing Wonka musical was an exploration of “whimsical, nostalgic, and romantic” visuals inspired by Roald Dahl’s book Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

I am sure you are all familiar with the books by the British writer A.A. Milne about Winnie the Pooh-bear and his friends, Eyeore, Piglet, Kanga, Roo, Rabbit, Owl, Tigger, and their adventures with Christopher Robin, who was Milne’s son.

There’s a famous line in Alice Walker’s 1982 novel The Color Purple that goes: “I think it pisses God off if you walk by the color purple in a field somewhere and don’t notice it.” It’s a message that even God can become annoyed when people overlook the wonderful things he creates.

There are several legal aspects to consider while relying on generative artificial intelligence (“AI”) tools, such as ownership of intellectual property in works, possible infringement of third-party intellectual property, personality rights issues, generation of unlawful content by such tools, bias and prejudice in decision-making by such tools, among others.

In this Industry Spotlight with Creative First, Biren Ghose, Country Head for India at Technicolor and a veteran of the AVGC industry in India, joined Lohita Sujith, Sr. Director of Copyright & Digital Economy at Motion Picture Association, to discuss the future of the Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming, and Comic (AVGC) industry.

For the first time ever, the Pan African Association Convergence, the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE), the Motion Picture Association (MPA) and Canal+ with the support of the French Development Agency (AFD) have joined forces and hosted the International Seminar on IP Protection & Audiovisual Internet Piracy in Africa.

In this Industry Spotlight with Creative First, Producer & Founder, Roy Kapur Films, Siddharth Roy Kapur joined Lohita Sujith, Sr. Director of Copyright & Digital Economy at Motion Picture Association, to discuss the film industry landscape, amendments to the cinematographic act and new government initiatives.

Ridley Scott’s Napoleon takes on the general-turned-emperor who ruled France from 1799 to 1814 and presents him (Joaquin Phoenix) as an indefatigable military strategist but also a tortured everyman obsessed with, and forever a touch spurned by, his wife and subsequent ex-wife, Joséphine (Vanessa Kirby).

The world’s leading anti-piracy coalition, joined forces with a global law enforcement content protection coalition to launch the sixth phase of “Operation 404,” a Latin-America based effort to shut down illegal websites and streaming services that infringe on the copyrights of films, TV shows, live sports, music and games.

The Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE), the Motion Picture Association (MPA), the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL) and the Korea Copyright Protection Agency (KCOPA) co-hosted the International Forum on Copyright Enforcement last week.

This Thanksgiving, the new animated musical comedy Wish premiered in the midst of the studio’s 100th anniversary, and the inspiration for the film can be encapsulated by “When You Wish Upon a Star,” a song made famous in Disney’s second full-length feature, 1940’s Pinocchio.

One of the largest piracy services in the Middle East-North Africa (MENA) region was shut down today in Egypt by the Egyptian police, in collaboration with the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE), the world’s leading anti-piracy organization.

In the past few weeks there has been a flurry of activity with respect to international regulation of Artificial Intelligence (AI) such as the Bletchley Declaration spearheaded by UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, the Executive Order on the Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence signed by US President Biden, as well as the G7 AI Code of Conduct.

The Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE), the world’s leading anti-piracy organization, has shut down tt-torrent.com, a torrent website that was operated out of Thailand.

New national polling conducted by spark*insights for the Motion Picture Association – Canada (MPA-Canada) shows Canadians see global studios and streaming companies as valuable contributors to Canada – filming movies and series across the country, employing Canadians, and exposing global audiences to made in Canada content on streaming services.

The Motion Picture Association (MPA) and its global content protection arm, the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE), have partnered with the National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center (IPR Center) to launch two new public service announcements that inform consumers about the many harms they face when viewing pirated movies and television shows.

This has been a busy couple of weeks for national and international declarations on Artificial Intelligence (AI). First the G7 issued its International Code of Conduct for Advanced AI Systems on October 30.

Intellectual Property Rights are said to symbolize innovation, creation, and progress. Why would they not? We have been hearing this for quite some time. Because we have had it for so long, a part of us does believe that IP helps generate knowledge.

There are countless unsung heroes of the civil rights movement who will never get the recognition they deserve, yet it’s hard to imagine an overlooked figure more central to the cause and more courageous and capacious in spirit than Bayard Rustin.

On 7th November 2023, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India issued a press release (“Press Release”) requesting Principal Entities (“PEs”) such as banks, other financial institutions, insurance companies, trading companies, business entities, real estate companies etc. to onboard the Digital Consent Acquisition (“DCA”) facility as per the timelines outlined in the direction issued by the TRAI dated 2nd June 2023 under the Telecom Commercial Communication Customer Preference Regulations, 2018 (“TCCCPR”).

In an effort to combat rampant digital piracy in Vietnam, the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE), the world’s leading anti-piracy organization, continues to target major Vietnam-based piracy syndicates. Since June, ACE has shut down multiple piracy websites belonging to the same piracy syndicate operating out of Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.

The Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE), the world’s leading anti-piracy coalition, worked closely with the country of Georgia’s Ministry of Finance to shut down two of the nation’s largest illegal streaming sites, adjaranet.com and imovies.cc.

The Persian Version won both the Audience Award and the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award in the U.S Dramatic Competition at Sundance this year, and for good reason. The film is a feel-good dramedy that combines stories of traditional Iranian culture with those of the Iranian American experience with a decidedly modern touch.

In Pain Hustlers, the opioid crisis takes on a different tenor than that previously seen in hard-hitting dramas like Hulu’s limited series Dopesick and fellow Netflix’s own Painkiller.

The Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE), the world’s leading anti-piracy organization, has shut down live sports piracy site Watchwrestling.ai and its associated domains, which were being operated out of India.

Denise Huth is not a fan of horror. And that’s surprising, considering that she produced the biggest sci-fi/horror series in television history, The Walking Dead.

With more than 70 films to her credit, including Malcolm X (1992), Amistad (1997), Selma (2014), Black Panther (2018), and Dolemite Is My Name (2019), costume designer Ruth E.

I published a critical comparison of the activist approach taken by the US Copyright Office on AI and copyright issues, compared to the passive non-response from Canada’s copyright policy makers, the department with statutory responsibility for copyright policy (ISED, aka Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada) released a consultation paper on this very issue.

The Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE), the world’s leading antipiracy coalition, has shut down two of Latin America’s largest and most visited Spanish-language piracy rings.

The Motion Picture Association (MPA) and the Entertainment Industry College Outreach Program (EICOP) today announced this year’s MPA-EICOP Entertainment Law and Policy Fellows’ studio placements.

As noted in part one of our interview with Paul Cameron, he took his first turns at directing for series helming two episodes of Westworld, and he drew on his experience as a cinematographer and from his work for some pretty important mentors.

As director of photography, Paul Cameron has shot such disparate films and series as Man On Fire, Collateral, Déjà Vu, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, and Westworld.

I had the opportunity to visit Taiwan in August, where I once (in the last century) served as Director of the Canadian Trade Office in Taipei, aka the Canadian Representative to Taiwan.

The Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE), the world’s leading anti-piracy coalition, today applauds the Taiwanese Police for their successful raid against the distributors of illicit streaming devices (ISDs) that enabled users to stream pirated content through pre-loaded apps, and for their commitment to taking firm action against commercial-scale copyright infringement.

For Ahsoka cinematographer Eric Steelberg, lensing the latest live-action Star Wars series was a dream come true. Growing up in thrall to George Lucas’s original trilogy, Steelberg would find himself on set while filming the new series, surrounded by massive spaceships both practical and virtual, astonished by his own job.

After winning three Latino Alternative Theater Awards for “Hamlet in Harlem” (Best Production, Direction, and Ensemble) Alberto Ferreras refuses to sit on his hands.

The facts of the case are such that Wynk Limited (“Wynk”) had an agreement to exploit Tips Industries Limited (“Tips”) repertoire on its internet based streaming platform and when that agreement expired, there were various negotiations between Tips and Wynk.

The question of whether works that are generated in whole or in part by Artificial Intelligence (AI) should enjoy copyright protection is a hot topic at the moment. It is wrapped up in the question of who can claim the protection of copyright.

When writer-director Gareth Edwards finished Rogue One, he took a road trip to his girlfriend’s home in Iowa. Along the way, he noticed a Japanese factory in the middle of a cornfield and started dreaming up a new story.

On 11th August 2023, the Draft Digital Personal Data Protection Bill, 2023 received President of India’s assent after passage in both the Houses of the Parliament and became a law i.e. the Data Protection Act, 2023 (“DPDP Act”).

Alana Watts is a life-long movie fan and leads Deluxe’s Cinema team across Australia, New Zealand and Asia. As Studios Director, Alana plays a pivotal role between cinemas and distributors, helping to bring films to screen for movie lovers to enjoy.

The all-party Culture, Media and Sport Committee of the British House of Commons has just (August 30) issued a welcome report condemning plans announced by Britain’s Intellectual Property Office (IPO) in June of 2022 to create a limitless copyright exemption to enable tech companies to develop artificial intelligence (AI) applications without having to obtain permission from rights holders or to acquire a licence.

The Motion Picture Association (MPA) released a statement today applauding the Philippine ISPs and the IPO Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL) for signing a voluntary site-blocking Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to disable access to illegal piracy websites.

The Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE), the world’s leading anti-piracy coalition, today announced it has shut down Uptobox and Uptostream, two of the digital piracy world’s most notorious illegal video hosts.

When Sam Altman, CEO of the company behind ChatGPT, gave Congressional testimony about the dangers of AI, many believed Altman had genuinely altruistic intentions.

On August 4, 2023, India’s Cinematograph (Amendment) Bill, 2023, received Presidential assent and became the law of the land. Enactment marked the culmination of a decades-long process to update the country’s anti-piracy laws by cracking down on camcording in theatres and imposing significant penalties for distribution of illegally recorded films.

On August 11, 2023, the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 (“DPDPA”) became law. The provisions of the DPDPA are yet to come into effect.

In June 2023, WesternRus announced to customers with regret that it would have to suspend its piracy operation. Given that WesternRus had profited handsomely from selling films – without bearing any costs of making them – what could possibly explain its sudden demise? According to WesternRus, its profitability had been destroyed by … massive piracy!

Good morning, everyone. I would like to thank Leader Schumer, Senator Young, Senator Heinrich, Senator Rounds, and all of the senators here today for the opportunity to participate in this important forum.

The Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE), the world’s leading anti-piracy coalition, today announced the take-down of three commercial-scale piracy operations in Egypt that were illegally broadcasting live football matches and other content to audiences in the Middle East and North Africa.

The Equalizer trilogy is a wrap. For the latest and supposedly final addition to the franchise, filmmaker Antoine Fuqua and his crew take Robert McCall (Denzel Washington, Fuqua’s longtime collaborator) to Southern Italy.

Recently, India passed the long-awaited Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023. The internet is abuzz with discussion on the Digital Personal Data Protection Bill, 2023 which became the Act after being passed by both houses.

An elite force of female soldiers, the Agojie, is all that stands between the African Kingdom of Dahomey and the combined forces of the Oyo Empire and Mahi people. The Oyo and Mahi plan to raid Dahomey villages and sell their captives to European slavers. We open on a Mahi village where raiders heat their machetes over a fire at night.

When he returned to feature filmmaking, writer/director Clement Virgo followed his instincts. Since his last feature, Poor Boy’s Game (2007), Virgo has been directing TV, working more or less nonstop. He’s directed episodes of Empire, Netflix’s Dahmer- Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, and OWN’s megachurch drama Greenleaf.

A ruined world, decimated by a fungi-borne plague and teeming with zombified hordes and hardened survivors who can be just as dangerous. A biopic about one of the all-time greatest musical tricksters who created an astonishingly successful career parodying hit songs.

On August 3, almost 30 organizations,[i] representing 50,000 Canadian writers, visual artists and publishers released an open letter to newly appointed Heritage Minister Pascale St. Onge urging her to tackle “meaningful copyright reform”.

Big Studio Movie Licence, part of Heritage Films International, provides a blanket movie licence to organisations including senior living communities and religious institutions so they can enjoy films legally from Hollywood’s biggest studios.

Newly (and hastily) augmented with generative AI, Microsoft’s search engine, Bing, has been normalizing piracy, drumming up business for piracy rings, and instructing internet users how to access piracy sites in countries where they have been blocked pursuant to court orders.

The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) held a stakeholder consultation meeting on August 23, 2023, to discuss the some issues related to copyright societies.

Robert Oppenheimer (Cillian Murphy) stares wide-eyed into the pond spread out in front of him; his last conversation with Albert Einstein (Tom Conti) on the potential catalytic effects of the atomic bomb has rendered him speechless. The music swells as the screen fades to black — the final scene of Christopher Nolan’s highly-anticipated Oppenheimer.

If the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences is still wondering why it should award an Oscar for stunts, these are seven reasons to make this a reality.

The Korea Copyright Protection Agency (KCOPA) and the Motion Picture Association (MPA), which established the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE), its content protection arm and the world’s leading anti-piracy coalition, today signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) in a joint effort to fight digital piracy in the Asia Pacific region and other parts of the world.

This year’s theme for World IP Day (April 26) which is “Women and IP: Accelerating innovation and creativity”. The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) is celebrating the role of female innovators, entrepreneurs and creators across all elements of intellectual property.

On 18th November 2022, TRAI released the Recommendations on Regulatory Framework for Promoting Data Economy Through Establishment of Data Centres, Content Delivery Networks, and Interconnected Exchanges in India (“Recommendations”) which seeks to create reliable frameworks and policies.

As Bill C-18, the Online News Act, continues its step-by-step process through the Canadian Parliament, another shoe has dropped. Meta, Facebook’s parent company announced it will be laying off 13 percent of its global workforce (11,000 people) owing to two quarters of losses and a sinking share price. Meta’s valuation is down more than 70 percent so far this year, to levels not seen since 2015.

Even with the hiccup, Kennedy designed a number of period authentic sets that transport viewers back to the 1980s storyline where a Bangkok backlot (and areas of Melbourne) fill in for the slums of India. Below, Kennedy details the seemingly impossible transition, how it affected the production design and the challenges behind filming in Bangkok.

Empire State Development (ESD) today held the sixth annual New York State Multicultural Creativity Summit, an in-person and virtual interactive conference that guides content creators of diverse backgrounds to better understand and advance their careers within the film and television industry.

The NCPCR on 24th June 2022 has released the Draft Regulatory Guidelines for Child Participation in the Entertainment Industry or Any Commercial Entertainment Activity (“Draft Guidelines”), which is available on its website for 30 days for public comments.

For the Russos’ new Ryan Gosling action movie The Gray Man (streaming Friday on Netflix), Jackman spent months obsessing over a 17-minute suite before seeing a single frame of the film. Jackman explains, “If you’re trying to do something original in writing music for movies, I’ve found that if you just get the picture and go straight into writing cues, you often get distracted by the mechanics of the scene. If you really want to develop ideas, it’s useful to work away from picture.”

The series Obi-Wan Kenobi concluded to great acclaim, especially for star Ewan McGregor’s emotional performance in the title role, Moses Ingram’s intensity as Inquisitor Reva, and the astonishing cat-and-mouse game between Obi-Wan and his former protogé, Darth Vader.

At the recent 12th WTO Ministerial meeting, the first in more than four years (because of COVID), Trade Ministers reached agreement on several key decisions. Two of them of are of direct interest to copyright industries, one for what was not done (relating to an intellectual property patent waiver for COVID-19 vaccines) and one related to a further extension of the 1998 moratorium on the application of customs duties to digital products.

Music is an important part of Indian culture and no weddings in India are complete without music. Understanding this, an exception of fair use of music at marriages and social festivities associated with marriage was expressly carved out under Section 52(1)(za) of the Copyright Act, 1957 vide an amendment to the Copyright Act in 2014, effective from 2015.

I often receive queries on whether one can use clippings for up to 30 seconds or less without requiring any license? Isn’t it permissible under principle of de minimis non curat lex? Can a news channel simply use songs in one of its programmes and claim defense of fair dealing under Section 52 of the Copyright Act?

The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting ("MIB") on 23 April 2022, issued an advisory to private TV news channels, for coverage of events and incidents in a manner violative of the Programme Code framed under the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act, 1995 ("the Act") and advised them to refrain from airing such cont

The Motion Picture Association’s film and television content security program, the Trusted Partner Network (TPN), today announced the appointment of Crystal Pham to the role of Vice President, Operations and Product Management. Pham will report to TPN President Terri Davies.

As you, dear reader, will know, this is a blog focused on copyright and content related issues, rather than politics, although at times there is an inevitable political spillover when dealing, for example, with the copyright dimensions of trade agreements, given that many such agreements are driven as much by political objectives as economic considerations

February 21-25 is Fair Use/Fair Dealing week, so proclaimed by a number of participating organizations in the US and Canada and organized by the Association of Research Libraries under the umbrella of fairuseweek.org. As in past years, there will be a series of online events extolling the virtues of fair use and fair dealing.

The Copyright Office vide public notice dated February 18, 2022, notified that the Pahari Performing Rights Association has filed an application for registration as a copyright society under Section 33 of the Copyright Act, 1957 for carrying out business of issuing or granting license in respect of musical works as defined under Section 2(p) of the Copyright Act, 1957 and literary work associated with musical work.

The Karnataka High Court has held that Section 63 of the Copyright Act, which prescribes a punishment of minimum 6 months that may extend to 3 years imprisonment, is cognizable offence and police can register a First Information Report, on receipt of a complaint.

Nowadays it is not uncommon for major telecommunications companies (telcos) to provide infrastructure in the form of wireless, wireline and fibre optic, cable and satellite connectivity while also directly controlling some of the content distributed via this infrastructure.

After Bollywood stars, cricketers, cartoonists, and other artists, broadcaster Viacom18 is now planning to join the NFT (or non-fungible tokens) bandwagon with launch marketplace, Fullyfaltoonft.com.

The Madras High Court in the case of Novex Communications Pvt. Ltd vs DXC Technology Pvt. Ltd & Anr has held that the business of issuing licenses in any work in which copyright subsists can only be done by a registered copyright society if the work is incorporated in a cinematograph film or a sound recording.

In a recent blogpost, Amazon called on Facebook and similar platforms to work more diligently to shut down the numerous trolls who swamp Amazon’s site with fake product reviews.

For more than twenty years and counting, media piracy apologists have repeated some variation of the argument which says, “People are willing to pay for content as long as it is made conveniently available at a fair price.”

For piracy to flourish, it requires more than crafty criminals and willing users. And its impact goes well beyond the harm it does to creators. Content theft is a $2.34 billion criminal ecosystem that mirrors the legitimate world of Netflix, Hulu, and Apple+.

“The MPA APSA Academy film Fund is the single most important film development fund in Australia simply because it rewards new and audacious ideas and is not beholden to conventional market pathways or bureaucratically acceptable finance plans.”

Will OTT platforms and movie theatres co-exist after COVID-19?

In conversation with Anish John

Throughout their relatively brief yet terrible reigns, both Facebook and Google have compiled enough scandals to fell most companies many times over. And yet, following both companies’ most recent earnings reports, their stocks only continue to rise.