Chinese government departments have launched another publicity
campaign to demonstrate their efforts to fight online piracy, the
National Copyright Administration (NCA) announced on Monday.
From August to October, the NCA, the Ministry of Public Security
and the Ministry of the Information Industry will combine to crack
down on online piracy.
The three ministries will work to close illegal websites and
punish violators that infringe upon intellectual property rights by
distributing pirated movies, music, software, computer games and
books through the internet, the NCA statement said.
During the campaign, the ministries will investigate internet
cafes to punish those who illegally download films and games, and
spread them among the public, the statement said. The ministries
will also try to establish a long-term supervision mechanism for
professional portals engaging in business related to film, music,
software and books, the NCA said.
Upon the conclusion of the campaign, the top ten online piracy
cases will be chosen from the cases they handle during the
three-month campaign, according to the NCA.
Chinese law enforcement agencies confiscated 49 million illegal
books, periodicals and audio-visual products in the first four
months of this year during a crackdown on pornographic and illegal
publications.
China's top court even stepped up the fight against intellectual
piracy by lowering the threshold to prosecute people manufacturing
or selling counterfeit intellectual property products.
The interpretation issued by the Supreme People's Court in April
states that anyone who manufactures 500 or more counterfeit copies
(discs) of computer software, music, movies, TV series and other
audio-video products can be prosecuted and imprisoned for up to
seven years.
Fines for convicted counterfeiters were also raised, to range
from one to 15 times the illegal earnings, or from 50 to 200
percent of the business turnover.
(Xinhua News Agency August 13, 2007)
