MUMBAI: Enraged by the escalation in anti-piracy efforts, pirates hacked the website of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), the lobbying arm of the major Hollywood studios on Saturday.

MPAA.org and the website of AiPlex Software, a company the MPAA hired to target sites where piracy was rampant, were out of action for long periods the day.

Said an MPAA spokesman, "The MPAA is aware of the illegal attack and has taken measures to mitigate the effect of any denial-of-service attack." In the later part of the day, the organisation was able to get its site back online.

The attacks were declared on the message-board group 4chan that is notorious as a hotbed for piracy activity. Their call to arms was prompted by a statement AiPlex made earlier in the month about stepping up its own efforts to counter copyright-infringing content.