A massive nationwide crackdown against Internet game piracy is
expected to be carried out next month to clean up the mushrooming
market and extend protection of online intellectual property.
The move comes against the backdrop of the nation's fight against
piracy of recreational products, a key condition of the country's
World Trade Organization membership.
Ministry of Culture officials said yesterday they will cooperate
with local government bodies and Internet game operators to keep
the booming market on a legal footing.
Topping the hit list are dishonest Internet bar owners who set up
Internet servers to steal Internet games from their rightful owner
- the major source of online entertainment piracy.
These private-run servers are operating without any official
licences from governmental agencies, taking advantage of legal
loopholes to amass huge profits by wooing netizens to play the
online games.
Many of them are also baiting net buffs by distributing obscene,
abusive or subversive content via their Internet servers.
The biggest losers from these crimes are the licensed business
operators, who fail to receive any royalties from the Internet bar
owners.
"Piracy has become the software industry's major enemy, as it has
damaged many licensed online game operators," said the top official
in charge of the Internet with the Ministry of Culture.
The official, who wished to remain anonymous, was quoted by Xinhua
News Agency as saying the government will try as hard as it can to
clamp down on any piracy.
In
the previous anti-piracy campaign conducted last December, the
ministry closed 17 Internet bars in Chengdu in Southwest China's
Sichuan Province, Nanjing in East China's Jiangsu Province and
Hangzhou in East China's Zhejiang Province.
To
build up its anti-piracy campaign, the Ministry of Culture is
expected to work out a regulatory framework for online game
business later this year, tightening control of online game content
and strengthening management of the sector.
A
non-profit organization covering the major online game operators is
expected to be established later this year in a sign of
collaboration and solidarity in the anti-piracy battle.
Since last March, China has put into force a revised set of
regulations governing copyright registration for computer software
which was amended to keep it in line with WTO requirements.
The regulations also cover registration of patents for software and
transfer of such patent rights.
The nation amended its copyright law two years ago, extending its
scope to cover more subjects, including acrobatic performances,
architectural designs and literary and artistic works published
online.
In
a move to embrace international property rights rules, China joined
the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property in
1984 and, in 1992, signed up to the Berne Convention for the
Protection of Literary and Artistic Works.
(China Daily January 24, 2003)