Thiruvananthapuram, May 19 (IANS): A Kerala-based software engineer has come up with an anti-piracy device to check recording of movies in theatres using sophisticated mobile phones or handycams.

Varghese Babu told IANS here that the product, which has gone for patent processing, was developed after three years of research.

"It has been named as 'Demolish Duplica' and has a hardware unit which is placed in movie theatres. The moment anyone tries to record a film, the hardware unit recognises it and stops the recording. An alert is sent to a server and the anti-piracy cell of police," Babu said.

The product has been priced at Rs.1.5 million, the 30-year-old software engineer said.

"The serial number of the mobile phone or the handycam gets recorded on the hardware device, and details of the location from where the recording is being done can be accessed by the authorities," Babu added.

He added that the product can also track tampering of the film during the editing process.

Responding to whether it is the only such product available in the market, Babu said: "Had there been any other application available, there would have been no pirated versions available of new releases."

"I have been receiving inquiries from the film industry and at the moment I am completing the formalities for getting this patented," Babu said.