The Madras High Court has put the onus of stopping illegal downloads of Rajnikanth's upcoming movie Kabali on internet service providers (ISP). The court has restrained 169 registered ISPs in India from allowing illegal downloads of the movie that will be released worldwide on July 22, news report said.
Justice N Kirubakaran passed the interim order after the producer of the film S Thanu filed a writ petition.
Delving into the main issues that foster piracy, the judge also restrained multi-system operators (MSOs) from illegally telecasting the film by cable operators registered with them.
"The petitioner is said to have suffered heavy loss due to online and video piracy of his movies 'Therri' and 'Kanidhan', and his apprehension regarding illegal downloading, streaming, etc of his upcoming movie by rogue websites is well-founded," the judge said in the order as reported by The Times Of India.
"Hence, this court is convinced to grant an order of interim injunction restraining the licensed ISPs listed as respondents 7 to 175, from giving access to the rogue websites listed in the schedule to the petition, and other similar websites indulging in online piracy and infringement of copyright pertaining to the film 'Kabali,' and more particularly prohibit them in territorial jurisdiction of India from exhibiting, releasing, projecting, screening or in any manner providing platforms for downloading the film Kabali which is already censored and slated for release on July 22," he added.
The judge also reflected on how, in the past, films inculcated good family values and observed that it is missing these days. Justice Kirubakaran reminded the actors of their social responsibilities.
According to Vijay Narayan, S Thanu's senior counsel, some websites allowed illegal downloads of the full length film for a meagre Rs 10.
