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 Copyright and Piracy

The United States continues to seek changes to India's copyright protection and enforcement regime that would protect both Indian and U.S. rights holders in the vibrant and promising Indian market. In particular, the United States urges India to: enact anti-camcording legislation; model its statutory license provisions relating to copyrighted works on the standards of the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works (Berne Convention); ensure that collecting societies are licensed promptly and able to operate effectively; and provide additional protections against signal theft, circumvention of technological protection measures, and online copyright piracy. This is an area of substantial common interest between the United States and India, as two countries with vibrant content producers.

The United States also notes its interest in engaging with the Government of India on its policy reforms and initiatives that aim to increase investment in the Indian market and enhance the policy environment supporting innovation, notably through the "Make in India" and "Digital India" campaigns. As noted in the 2014 Special 301 Report, while U.S. stakeholders eagerly anticipate India's growth in its Internet user base, projected to be, by the end of 2015, the second largest in the world with up to 370 million users, they also fear increased piracy as a negative corollary to this growth. This trend makes it all the more imperative that India incorporate into its legal system more effective measures to counter online piracy. The United States encourages the Government of India to adopt effective measures to counter online piracy, including appropriate notice-and-takedown procedures and other efficient mechanisms for rights holders to seek removal of infringing content from websites, consistent with international best practices. The United States also encourages the Government of India to undertake a review of its applicable statutory damages provisions for copyright piracy to ensure that they are appropriately calibrated to have a deterrent effect.

The high incidence of camcording in India underscores the importance of developing an effective legal framework to address this problem. India has one of the highest rates of video piracy in the world, according to a 2013 study conducted by the Motion Pictures Distributors Association of India (MPDA). This study found that incidents originating in India accounted for approximately half of all such incidents in the Asia-Pacific region in that year. Though the United States has welcomed past statements made by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting about the desire to include specific anti-camcording provisions in the draft Cinematographic Bill, this bill has not yet been considered by the Indian Parliament. The United States notes that, in the First Draft of the National IPR Policy, the Government of India recognized the efforts of Indian state authorities in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, and Maharashtra to include video piracy as a legal offense. A positive next step would be the introduction of national anti-camcording legislation.

The United States notes some limited improvements with respect to copyright enforcement, including reports that enforcement officials cooperate with music industry rights holders in 47