The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry
(IFPI), and the Motion Picture Association of America (MPA) have
sent separate letters to the China National Copyright
Administration (NCA) to praise a special operation to crush
Internet infringement and piracy as "hard but effective."
They also expressed their hopes for enhanced cooperation with
the NCA, which shut down 76 websites, confiscated 39 servers, and
ordered 137 websites to delete contents that violate regulations
during an operation that lasted from September and December last
year.
"This special operation has achieved its purpose and has been
favorably looked upon by the public and overseas rights-holders'
organizations," NCA deputy commissioner Yan Xiaohong told a press
conference on Wednesday.
The administration also fined 29 websites 789,000 yuan
(US$98,625) and transferred 18 suspected criminal cases to
judiciary courts during the operation, Yan said.
According to Yan, the administration had received letters of
complaint about piracy of literary works, music, TV series, films,
software and computer games by October 31, 2005, of which 172 have
been resolved.
Out of the 172 cases, 14 were reported by overseas
rights-holders or rights-holders' organizations, including the IFPI
and the MPA, he said.
However, Yan also acknowledged one special operation was not
enough to eliminate Internet infringement, because like many other
countries, China has not found the right approach yet.
"The Internet is boundless, with a huge memory and rapid
transmission speed, so evidence of,piracy is hard to collect," Yan
said, adding: "The NCA is addressed to setting up a long-standing
mechanism of copyright protection in the Internet context. We still
have a lot of work to do."
The State Council is expected to issue a statute on Internet
information dissemination rights to regulate networks and fortify
the defense of private and non-profit Internet websites, Yan
said.
"We will continue to cooperate with rights-holders, social
agencies and international organizations, including the IFPI and
the MPA," he said.
China joined the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)
in 1980 and is party to two out of six of WIPO's international
treaties, namely the Berne Convention for the Protection of
Literary and Artistic Works, and the Geneva Convention for
the Protection of Producers of Phonograms Against Unauthorized
Duplication of their Phonograms.
Yan said that China is considering ratifying another two - the
WIPO Copyright Treaty and the WIPO Performances and Phonograms
Treaty - both focused specifically on copyright protection on the
Internet.
Yan added: "Our goal is to create an environment favorable for
both copyright protection and product dissemination."
(Xinhua News Agency February 16, 2006)