China's watchdog for copyright protection to increase punishments against pirated films

China's watchdog for copyright protection said it would increase punishments against those making, selling or spreading pirated films this year to better safeguard the copyrights and improve development in the film industry.

The National Copyright Administration issued a statement on Monday, saying it has taken the fight against pirated films as its work priority this year and would strictly punish people who privately record films in cinemas.

It will also work with authorities, including the China Film Administration, the Ministry of Public Security and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, to fight against the makers and increase inspections on online platforms where the pirated films are uploaded and spreading, the statement said.

"If we find some serious piracy in the campaign, we'll send them to public security departments as criminal cases without hesitation," it said.

Given that some pirated movies are uploaded through IP servers overseas, the copyright administration added it has planned to improve international cooperation on law enforcement this year.

During the seven-day Spring Festival holiday, which concluded on Feb 10, the administration increased copyright protection on films, including The Wandering Earth, which is now ranked second in China's all-time box office, and deleted in a timely manner about 7,700 links in which it found copyright infringements, it added.