40 arrested for copyright of Spring Festival box office movies

More than 40 individuals were captured on suspicion of unauthorized filming, pirated recording and illegal distribution of this year's Spring Festival box office movies during a recent campaign against piracy, Chinese authorities released on Sunday.

The campaign was launched by the National Copyright Administration, the China Film Administration, the Ministry of Public Security and the Ministry of Cultural and Tourism in January, aiming to crack down on piracy in the film industry and enhance the public's awareness to protect the film copyrights.

In addition to the capture, nearly 2.3 million web links infringing the copyrights of the Spring Festival box office movies had been removed by Feb 20, with 4,116 online accounts banned or restricted for repeatedly infringing on the film copyrights, the authorities said.

In Jinhua, Zhejiang province, for example, police detained 11 people who allegedly set up pirate websites and apps to distribute pirated blockbusters, such as Ne Zha 2 and Creation of the Gods II: Demon Force, to seek profits. The amount of money earned by the suspects exceeded 14 million yuan ($1.9 million).

According to data from ticketing platform Maoyan, the global earnings of the animated film, Ne Zha 2, had surpassed 14.2 billion yuan as of 1:50 pm on Saturday.