THE JOHN DOE – Starring: Bollywood And Legal Complexities

The advancement in digital technology has allowed copyright owners to disseminate their work across borders at the click of a button. Territorial barriers no longer serve as an impediment and work can be circulated at a reduced cost. However, these advancements have inadvertently made certain industries more susceptible to copyright infringement; one such being the movie industry. While copyrighted work has always been prone to infringement, the invention of the internet has taken infringement to another level, enabling piracy in a matter of minutes. In order to tackle issues like copyright infringement, the concept of John Doe orders, erstwhile having Indian alias 'Ashok Kumar orders', have been introduced in India. John Doe orders are based on the premise, "if litigating finger is directed at unknown defendants, the inability to identify him by name is a mere misnomer".¹ The rationale being that the mystery of defendant's identity should not be an obstacle