China wages war against piracy

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2007-03-17 19:00

Pirates and bootleggers in China produce 120 million counterfeit audio and video products and 500 million unauthorized books a year, says an official with the General Administration of Press and Publications.

The rampant piracy of audio and video products and books has seriously affected China's international reputation and future investment prospects,said Liu Binjie, vice director with the General Administration of Press and Publication, during a movie festival organized by college students in Beijing.

"The audio and video product market alone is suffering annual losses of billions of yuan, while book piracy has left publishers and distributors with legal copyrights in a very unfavorable position," Liu said.

Liu said while China's on-going crack down on piracy is appreciated by international copyright holders, the current situation is still far from satisfactory.

Liu called for civilian cooperation to bring down piracy to better safeguard intellectual property in the country, and boost creative industries.

In a series of raids in Beijing on January 26 and February 7, 1.06 million illegal video discs were confiscated, and nine dealers were arrested for trafficking and selling pornographic materials.

Similar crackdowns in Jiangxi Province and Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region have also resulted in seizures of more than 411,000 illegal pirated video discs.

According to the official statistics, 19.46 million illegal publications were seized each month on average from July through September last year.