With the click of the mouse, online film piracy has surpassed illegal DVD copying worldwide, it was revealed at a conference in Beijing yesterday.

The Motion Pictures Association of America (MPAA) said its members lost $6.1 billion worldwide in 2005 because of piracy including $2.4 billion from illegal retail sales, $1.4 billion from illegal duplication and $2.3 billion from online pirating, Eugene Yu, general manager of MPAA China said.

"Online film piracy dissemination exploded after broadband services became available," Yu said.

An average movie can be downloaded 1.7 million times within 48 hours after it's released online, he said.

Copyright protection is a common issue in most countries. In China, the piracy rate of MPAA-member companies was 24 percent in 2005 while Chinese filmmakers reported a 55 percent loss or $2.6 billion.

"Chinese filmmakers themselves are the biggest sufferers," Zhu Yongde, an official with the China Film Copyright Protection Association, said.

China has 140 million Internet users and 45 million broadband users. Last year, online video service markets had an income of 500 million yuan ($64.9 million) and it is estimated to reach 3.4 billion yuan by 2010.

Xu Chao, vice-director of the copyright department at the National Copyright Administration, said that the government's efforts to crackdown were improving.

Last year, the country confiscated some 110 million illegal music compact discs and video products, the Ministry of Culture said yesterday.

Between September 2006 and January this year, copyright authorities investigated and handled 436 cases of online copyright infringements and piracy. They closed 205 websites and six cases were transferred to the judicial departments for criminal liabilities.

Two of the major Chinese laws are concerned with online infringement and piracy, the Copyright Law enacted in 1990 and revised in 2001, and Regulations on the Protection of the Right of Communication through Information Network, implemented last July.

Experts said yesterday that last year's regulation offered timely protection for international property rights holders, Internet service providers and Internet content providers.

In a judicial interpretation released last week, the Supreme People's Court stepped up the fight against intellectual piracy by lowering the threshold of a property rights criminal act and rolled out heavier punishments for violators.

"Protecting copyrights in a country with 140 million Internet users requires a lasting commitment," Xu said. "We will start with closer cooperation with foreign governments and businesses."