Tuesday, 19 September 2006

Chinese Anit-Piracy Drive Seizes 13 Million Pirated Discs

China has revoked 368 business licenses for audiovisual products in its campaign against piracy since mid July.
Ninety-nine of the licenses revoked belonged to companies based in Northeast China's Jilin Province and 74 were from Central China's Henan Province, the National Anti-Pornography and Anti-Piracy Office announced.

During the 100-day intensive crackdown on piracy, police and copyright officials have raided more than 537,000 publication markets, shops, street vendors and distribution companies, and closed down 8,907 shops and street vendors, 481 publishing companies and 942 illegal websites.

Ten ministries and national departments, including the Ministry of Public Security, the State Administration of Press and Publication, the National Copyright Administration and the Ministry of Culture jointly launched the 100-day campaign.

Carlos M. Gutierrez, visiting secretary of the US department of Commerce , has announced a series of initiatives aimed at curbing the global trade in pirated and counterfeit goods, a problem that American businesses say is costing them USD 250 billion a year. As part of the plan, the Commerce Department will send intellectual property experts abroad to monitor cases in the countries where much of the counterfeiting and piracy appears to be cantered, including Brazil, China, India and Russia.