HC asks 37 ISPs to block 12,000 websites

The Madras High Court has ordered 37 Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to block more than 12,000 websites featuring pirated versions of Tamil films. The list includes more than 2,000 websites operated by TamilRockers. Judge M Sundar made the order on Wednesday suggesting that Lyca Productions Private Limited, producer of Rajinikanth starrer 2.0, had presented a pleading.

Lyca's lawyer, Vijayan Subramanian, has drawn up a long list of 12,564 illegal websites. The lawyer claimed that when the TamilRockers website is blocked, he immediately creates mirror websites by modifying a nonsignificant part of the Uniform Resource Locator (URL) or any other extension, and so is able to restore the offending material with a minimum of effort.

Subramanian has produced a probable list of TamilRockers extensions and has sought an injunction against all these sites. According to Lyca, his latest venture is 2.0, with Rajinikanth, Akshay Kumar, Amy Jackson and others. The film was directed by S Shankar.

The producer invested a considerable amount in the production of the film, which aired on November 29 on more than 7,000 screens in India and around the world, including Chennai. The film is also available in more than five languages, including Mandarin in China. .

The trailer for the promotion of the film has been published. The official trailer of version 2.0, posted on YouTube, has collected 13,089,498 views, the lawyer said. Although the company acquired all exploitation and distribution rights, including theatrical and musical rights, in addition to copyright law, including television, the Internet, digital video and home video, it feared that these illegal websites present pirated versions of the movie its output.

According to the lawyer, the web pages and websites that provide such links are multiple and are used around the world. The company claimed that these websites are allowed to be viewed in India through various Internet service providers, such as the 37 listed in the plea.