Engineer Taken Into Custody For Copyright Violation Of Viacom 18’s Content

Well known network Viacom 18 was left shocked when they learned that a 28 year old IT engineer had been running an App called Thop TV through which he was transmitting the Network’s content without authorization. The Hyderabad based professional was selling the content at a discounted rate to the public, thus causing huge revenue loss for the network. The Maharashtra cybercrime cell jumped into action on learning this and have arrested the accused Satish Venkateshwarlu. He was booked and taken into custody under Section 43, 66 and 66B of the Information Technology Act, 2000, Section 63 of Copyright Act, and Section 420 and 34 of the Indian Penal Code(IPC). 

 

Things moved into action only when Viacom 18 filed an official complaint of a mobile app that was relaying and transmitting content from their networks such as TV shows, movies, and VOD. The highly educated engineer was allegedly transmitting the content through Telegram, a social media intermediary. The app has Lakhs of viewers, thus generating a huge revenue. Viacom’s spokesperson said that ‘they will continue to fight piracy through all means under the law’.