FIR against K Sera Sera for pirating ‘Force-2’

MUMBAI: The Cyber Crime Investigation Cell at BKC, Mumbai has registered a FIR against K Sera Sera Digital Cinema (K Sera Sera) upon a complaint filed by producer Viacom18 in relation to online piracy of its film ‘Force-2’.
The film starring John Abraham, Sonakshi Sinha and Tahir Raj Bhasin was released on November 18, last year and the pirated print of the film was found online on the same day.

Viacom18 has alleged in the complaint that the film had been leaked online by K Sera Sera, thereby infringing Viacom18’s copyright in the film along with other offences committed by K Sera Sera under Information Technology Act, Copyright Act and Indian Penal Code.

K Sera Sera was one of the firms hired by Viacom18 for Digital Integration of its film ‘Force-2’, wherein the digital content package (DCP) was sent to K Sera Sera before the release of the film. In order to tackle the menace of online piracy and identify the leak at source, Viacom18 had developed an internal security mechanism, involving the integration of unique identifiers in each copy of the film before the DCPs were distributed to the Digital Integrators.

Upon the release of the film, it was found that ‘Force-2’ was available in full length on various websites, for both unauthorised download and streaming.

Viacom18 said that investigations conducted by it revealed that pirated copies originated from the one that was sent to K Sera Sera for Digital Integration.

The company spokesperson said in a statement, “It is really frustrating to suffer a loss due to online piracy as tremendous amount of money is invested in production, promotion and distribution of a film. This mechanism developed by us can trace the source of piracy and further strengthens our commitment to battle movie piracy.”

“I believe that a concerted effort from the Indian film industry and support from the general public will go a long way in eradicating this illegal act. The Cyber Cell is presently investigating the offences complained of and it is likely to bust the nexus involved in this illegal activity. We hope the culprits are caught and brought to justice,” the spokesperson added.