Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp. and five other Hollywood film
studios have been awarded a total of 192,000 yuan (24,600 U.S.
dollars) in compensation from a Beijing company that sold pirated
copies of their films, a Chinese court has ruled.
The six Hollywood movie companies filed a copyright lawsuit in
March, saying Beijing Yongsheng Century International Cultural
Development Co. was selling pirated films including "Lord of the
Rings" and "The Day After Tomorrow".
They demanded the Beijing company to immediately stop selling
the pirated DVDs, pay a compensation and make an open apology.
The case was heard at Beijing Xicheng District People's
Court.
The court ruled the Beijing firm shall be held responsible for
infringement of the Hollywood studios' copyrights, but rejected
their demand for an apology, saying the damage was limited to their
property rights, a spokesman with the court said.
Pirated films are available at Chinese DVD shops and with
roadside peddlers.
China has intensified the crackdown on pirated DVDs and other
illegal publications, and plans to bring about fundamental changes
to the situation this year, according to a circular jointly issued
by six government departments, including the public security and
culture ministries.
China confiscated around 110 million illegal CDs and DVDs in
2006, according to the Ministry of Culture.
From 1994 to 2005, China confiscated 1.5 billion illegal
publications, including pirated discs and pornographic DVDs. More
than 40,000 illegal printing houses and 221 production lines were
closed down.
The Supreme People's Court issued a new judicial interpretation
earlier this year to lower the threshold for prosecuting
manufacturers and vendors of counterfeit intellectual property
products.
It said anyone who manufactured 500 or more counterfeit copies
(discs) of computer software, music, movies, TV shows and other
audio-video products could be prosecuted and faced a prison term of
up to three years.
They replaced the 2004 rules whose net only extended to those
who produced more than 1,000 pirated discs.
(Xinhua News Agency September 4, 2007)