Mind it! 2.0 movie producers get Madras HC injunction against online leaks

2.0, estimated to be the most expensive movie in Indian cinema, releases on Thursday and features Tamil superstar Rajinikanth and Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar.

The producers of 2.0 on Wednesday secured an injunction against the online broadcast of the movie without their consent, hoping the Madras High Court’s order to Internet Service Providers (ISP) will deter leaks.

The movie, estimated to be the most expensive in Indian cinema, releases on Thursday and features Tamil superstar Rajinikanth and Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar.

The producers had identified 12,564 websites which host content without the creators’ permission and don’t have a "take-down" mechanism in place.

The Madras High Court restrained ISPs from infringing the film producers’ rights by “facilitating access, copying, recording, reproducing, uploading or downloading or any manner communicating the film without authorization”.

"I argued that when tamilrockers.in is blocked, these non-compliant websites merely create mirror websites by changing an insignificant part of the URL like tamilrockers.ac or any other extension and are therefore able to reinstate the infringing material with minimal effort. We gave all the probable extension of Tamilrockers and sought for injunction. The court granted injunction," said Vijayan Subramanian, lawyer for Lyca Productions, the producers of 2.0.

The movie, estimated to have cost Rs 5.5 billion, will be released in more than 7,000 theatres in India and other countries. It will be released in more than five languages, including mandarin, in China. The film’s trailer on YouTube has garnered over 13 million views, said Lyca Productions in its petition.