MOVIE PRODUCERS GET SEARCH WARRANT FOR ENTIRE CITY OF NEW DELHI

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Gregory Aharonian <srctran () world std com>
Date: August 27, 2005 4:57:09 PM EDT
To: dave () farber net
Subject: An item for IP


Dave,
    If you haven't mentioned this one, here's an item from today's
PATNEWS.

Greg Aharonian

!20050827  Movie producers get search warrant for entire city of New  
Delhi

    --  Movie producers get search warrant for entire city of New Delhi
    --  Small inventor almost levied $1.25 million fee by the PTO
    --  Is Merck in more trouble over Vioxx due to a patent  
application?

Greg Aharonian
Internet Patent News Service
                              ====================


    -  MOVIE PRODUCERS GET SEARCH WARRANT FOR ENTIRE CITY OF NEW DELHI

In the ongoing battle to see what is more insane (copyright laws versus
the enforcement of copyright laws) comes the following story from the  
July
29-31 issue of the Hollywood Reporter, page 15, written by Blake  
Murdoch:

    MPA: New Delhi warrant adds tool to piracy battle

    In an unprecedented move, the Motion Picture Association (MPA) on
    Thursday (July 28th) announced that it has obtained a heneral
    "search and seize warrant" to cover the entire city of New Delhi,
    India.  "The order permits police to search any premises suspected
    of containing pirated products, and permits officers to open
    locked premises without delay.", the MPA said in a statement.
    "The order is expected to be especially useful in facilitating
    raids on the (city's) notorious Palika Bazaar, where information
    about imminent raids often leaks before police can effect arrests
    and seizures."

    ......

    Said Mike Ellis, the MPA's senio VP, Asia-Pacific, "The issuance
    of general search and seizure warrants greatly empowers police
    in the battle against illegal copyright theft and confirms the
    commitment of the Indian government and judiciary to fighting a
    crime that badly damages the country's film industry."  The MPA
    is working closely with law enforcement authorities throughout
    India to curb the country's piracy rate, estimated in 2004 at
    60%.

Wow - a city-wide search and seizure warrant.  Unfortunately for the  
MPA,
there is enough caselaw to choke a whale that would stop this from ever
happening in the United States.  (Of course, the MPA could ask lawyer
should-be-at-Hoover John Yoo to write a brief equating all forms of  
piracy
with all forms of terrorism, to justify city-wide search/seizure  
warrants
under the Patriot Act.)


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