MPA: Chinese import limits fuel piracy
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An American film industry official said Thursday that China should lift barriers that block most movie imports, warning that they are fueling its thriving market for pirated titles and hurting Chinese studios.
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Text of report in English by official Chinese news agency Xinhua (New China News Agency)  ["Beijing Customs Officers Seize Around 70 Kg of Ivory Products" - Xinhua headline]  Beijing, Feb.
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Piracy in China cost film makers &#36;2.7  billion last year, with domestic firms shouldering more than  half those losses, according to a study commissioned by a trade  group representing the major Hollywood studios.
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U.S. companies are suffering  "unacceptably high" losses in China due to counterfeiting and  piracy five years after that country joined the World Trade  Organization, U.S. trade officials said on Monday.
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(InfoWorld) - Industry groups for producers of copyrighted material, including the Business Software Alliance (BSA) and the Motion Picture Association (MPA), Friday signed an agreement with the National Copyright Administration of China (NCAC) for protection against Internet piracy in China. The Association of American Publishers (AAP) and The Publishers Association (TPA) of the U.K. also signed the memorandum, under which the industry groups will provide information about legal, authorized products distributed by their member companies in China. This allows the NCAC to distinguish between legal and pirated copy available online. Instances of Internet piracy will then be referred to the NCAC, which will then inform the proper legal authorities, the MPA said in a statement. The BSA estimated that total pirated software losses in 2005 in China were $3.9 billion, and that 86 percent of all software used in China during that year was pirated. The MPA estimated that the piracy rate for its members' products was 93 percent. Those numbers are calculated based on estimated sales if pirated or unauthorized products were not available. BSA members include major technology companies such as Apple Computer, Microsoft, and Dell. The MPA is comprised of Hollywood's largest film studios, such as Paramount Pictures and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It is the international arm of the Motion Picture Association of America. Â
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The Chinese government has drawn heavy criticism by two US business groups urging China to crack down on its growing piracy market and focus on protecting intellectual property rights in the country.
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Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao appealed to foreign companies Thursday to bring more research and development his nation, promising to protect their intellectual property amid worries of rampant piracy.
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Rampant movie piracy in the  Asia-Pacific region cost western film producers more than $718  million in lost revenue in 2003, up from $574 million in 2000,  the Motion Picture Association (MPA) said on Friday.
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China on Friday agreed with the Motion  Picture Association of America and other groups to do more to  tackle copyright piracy on the Internet, the official Xinhua  news agency said. China's National Copyright Administration  said the country would investigate and punish those suspected  of online intellectual property abuses by the movie association  as well as other groups such as the Association of American  Publishers.
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HONG KONG (Dow Jones)--PSA International will pay at least HK$2.6 billion for majority control of Asia Container Terminals, giving Singapore&#39;s state-owned port operator the strategic foothold in Hong Kong&#39;s port that it has long coveted, reports the South
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BEIJING  - Adding to pressure for China to stop rampant product piracy, two major U.S. business groups complained Thursday that abuses are getting worse and warned that lack of patent and copyright protection is hurting high-tech investment.
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In an attempt to control export quality, China enforces new licensing procedures. The result: expensive Chinese dinners.
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(InfoWorld) - China and Russia are the two worst foreign infringers of U.S. software and music copyrights and they should remain on the U.S. government's priority watch list, a group representing the software, music, books, and movie industries said Monday. The International Intellectual Property Alliance (IIPA) put out the figures as part of its recommendations to the U.S. Trade Representative. It asked government officials to keep both countries on its Priority Watch List when it meets to discuss the annual Special 301 review of copyright piracy. The list is compiled each year, and nations placed on the list are watched closely for signs of improvement. Failure to take action can result in countries losing certain duty-free trade privileges. The IIPA said the worst 60 foreign music and software pirating nations cost industry members $15.25 billion last year, compared to $15.83 billion in year earlier. The figure could be as much as $35 billion if the U.S. and the rest of the world are included, IIPA estimated. The figures are based on statistics supplied by member associations. China topped all rivals on the IIPA most-wanted list by pumping out $2.21 billion worth of pirated goods last year, mainly business software, according to IIPA figures. Russia ran a close second at $2.18 billion, it said. China's 2006 figure marks a slight improvement over the previous year, when the IIPA estimated its piracy at $2.37 billion, but Russia took a sharp turn for the worse. In 2005,Â Russian copyright piracyÂ only cost IIAP members $1.76 billion, the group said. Music, software and movie trade groups view the Special 301 process as the best means available for them to encourage greater copyright protection globally, IIAP said. The group recommended that 16 countries, including Canada, China, Mexico, and Russia, be placed on the Priority Watch List, putting them up for the highest degree of scrutiny. Canada and Mexico, the U.S.'s border neighbors, are two of its biggest trading partners. Italy escaped an IIPA recommendation for the priority list despite hosting the third worst copyright infringement problem, by value, on the group's list. Italy pirated $1.43 billion worth of U.S. software and songs last year, down slightly from $1.62 billion the year before, according to the IIPA. The group said its decision to recommend a country for the top list is based on the total amount and on efforts to improve. IIPA recommended that Italy be placed on the Special 301 Watch List, along with 27 other countries or territories. The IIPA is comprised of seven business associations, including the Business Software Alliance (BSA), Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) and Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). In all, the associations represent over 1,900 U.S. companies.
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(InfoWorld) - A Beijing court has convicted and fined operators of a pirated DVD shop Monday, the Motion Picture Association (MPA) said. The owners of the shop, Beijing Century Hai Hong Trading Co., were found guilty of copyright infringement for selling pirated copies of DVD movies. Judge Song Guang of the Beijing Second Intermediate People's Court ordered the company to pay damages of 164,000 yuan ($20,964) to the copyright holders, and to immediately cease sale of all pirated DVDs. The pirated films sold by Beijing Century Hai Hong were all from MPA member companies, but the MPA did not state which members nor name the films involved in the case, in a Tuesday statement. The MPA is the international arm of the Motion Picture Association of America, the American film industry's lobbying group. It is comprised of Hollywood's largest film studios: Buena Vista International; Paramount Pictures; Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer; Twentieth Century Fox International; Sony Pictures Releasing International; Warner Brothers International Theatrical Distribution; and Universal International Films.
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China is struggling to contain a surge  in online piracy, specifically cases involving the illegal  downloading of movies, music and books, and needs tougher  punishments, a senior official said on Thursday.
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Chinese textile exporters have lashed out at the latest attempts by the US to restrict imports of textile and garment products. The Committee for the Implementation of Textile Agreements, an interagency group
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The United States Trade Representative's office on Thursday sent out letters to key American business establishments seeking feedback on China's commitments to crack down on copyright piracy.