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A Beijing man charged with copyright infringement might be sentenced to 14 months in prison and fined 80,000 yuan, the local procuratorate said yesterday.
Huang Yangsheng is accused of exporting more than 6,000 DVD discs of popular American drama series, Hollywood blockbusters and cartoon series to buyers in North America and Europe between 2006 and last year, the Tongzhou district procuratorate told China Daily’s METRO.
Huang had been attracting buyers with two English websites he set up in December 2006. The sites were only accessible by overseas Internet users, who could post requests for DVDs. Huang would run background checks on the buyers before mailing them the discs on demand, prosecutors said.
Huang also sold foreign buyers DVD players to run the discs, prosecutors said.
The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) tracked Huang's websites and reported his case to Chinese authorities in 2007. MPAA said Huang's actions constituted copyright infringement because his websites provided a large number of pirated video products from China to overseas consumers.
Chinese prosecutors said Huang had illegally netted more than 100,000 yuan in profit by selling the DVDs at $1.2 per disc, or 8.2 yuan.
MPAA officials in Beijing were not available for comments by press time yesterday.
Huang was arrested on the charge of illegal business operation in Tongzhou district last December.
This is not the first time the MPAA has accused Chinese individuals or video providers of piracy in recent years.
Last year, on behalf of five movie production companies - Twentieth-Century Fox, Paramount, Walt Disney, Columbia and Universal - MPAA sued Beijing-based web cast portal Jeboo.com for allegedly airing US movies online without authorization. The two sides settled out of court.
Chinese authorities have long faced difficulties dealing with piracy infringement despite a regulation in 2007 to ban major web portals from playing authorized content. However, American drama and Hollywood movies remain available on Chinese web portals for free viewing.
Insiders said popular portals such as Youku.com, Ku6.com and 56.com have ditched the government restriction by hiring a group of private content providers to upload pirated content in the evening that replaces material deleted by authorities in the daytime.
Questions:
1. How had Huang been attracting buyers?
2. Who reported Huang’s website to Chinese authorities?
3. Why was Jeboo.com sued last year?
Answers:
1. With two English websites he set up in December 2006.
2. The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA).
3. For allegedly airing US movies online without authorization.
去听写专区一展身手
（中国日报网英语点津 Helen 编辑）
About the broadcaster:
Nancy Matos is a foreign expert at China Daily Website. Born and raised in Vancouver, Canada, Nancy is a graduate of the Broadcast Journalism and Media program at the British Columbia Institute of Technology. Her journalism career in broadcast and print has taken her around the world from New York to Portugal and now Beijing. Nancy is happy to make the move to China and join the China Daily team.
