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Fighting Fakes

Finally, a realistic chance of mounting an assault on software piracy.

By Ananya Roy

Fakes, beware. The money in intellectual property theft could vanish, at least as far as music and movie discs go---given the recent decision to spare them their tax burden.

The Indian film and music consumer, goes the logic, has always been rather discerning of quality---able, that is, to tell the fake apart from the genuine. The choice between the two, however, was swayed by simple cost considerations. If there's a big price to be paid for the switch from the artificial to the real, it can wait.

The good news? That price may not be all that big anymore, and fiscal wisdom may actually point the consumer towards a new value-for-money equation. Significantly better sensibility-engaging experiences, for not so much more. Talk of enlightened self-interest...

Of course, no war on fakes is won or lost through simple desktop arithmetic of the sort illustrated above. There's also a ground battle raging. In 2003 alone, the Indian Music Industry (IMI) conducted 1,630 raids across India, seizing some 361,750 cassettes and 884,418 fake CDs. The action in West India has been particularly frenetic. New Year's eve had IMI Gujarat and the Economic Offences Wing, Ahmedabad, busting all sorts of illegitimate loud-speaker music.

Still, it's unlikely that strongarm action can solve the problem of piracy. This is a huge country. According to industry estimates, the film industry loses around Rs 2,000 crore annually to piracy. The music industry? Some Rs 700 crore. No amount of policing can deal with the scale of the problem. The gizmo proliferation----CD-writers, MP3 and whatever else-of recent years has toughened the challenge.

Yet, and yet, do not underestimate the human urge to side with their conscience---and latent desire for a life free of distorted images and reengineered soundwaves. Maybe all it takes is a dedicated---indeed, heartfelt---addressal of market demand, rather than market supply. Simple human psychology. Sometimes it takes a good thwack on the head to sort out one's priorities---and allow subconsciously suppressed needs to surface.

And that's why the game looks a lot more interesting all of a sudden. There's hope yet. If market consciousness grows (admittedly, a question mark, still), the black eye-patches may have to yield to another sort of black-eyed peace. And IMI's anti-piracy video may have less reason to wail, 'Kitna badal gaya insaan'.

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