As American companies increasingly sue Chinese counterparts for copyright infringements, Hollywood producers are joining forces with Chinese websites to tighten online protection.

Pirated disks and illicit publications are destroyed in Taiyuan, capital of north China's Shanxi province, yesterday. Xinhua

The seven most popular Chinese websites - where millions of films and television programs are being uploaded, watched or downloaded every day - signed an agreement with the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) concerning copyright protection of American films on Friday.

Under the agreement the websites promised to remove any programs illegally uploaded by users upon being notified by MPA and its member companies. They include tudou.com, youku.com, pomoho.com, 56.com, 6.cn, ku6.com and ouou.com.

By signing the agreement, they want to cooperate with the MPAA and Hollywood producers so that they can profit from the online screening of films, Cai Guangliang, lawyer for tudou.com, explained.

Cooperation is also on the agenda of the US side.

"While legislation is clearly an important component of what we do, the need to build cooperative relationships with the industry is an equally key component of our work in the digital age," said Mike Ellis, president for the Asia Pacific Region of the MPAA.

Currently China has 230 million Internet users, 20 million more than at the end of last year, and 76.9 percent of them have watched films or television programs online, Gao Lulin, vice-chairman of the Internet Society of China, told China Daily.

US firms sue xunlei.com

In a related development, six American movie companies are suing a popular Chinese Internet company over film piracy.

Warner Bros, Walt Disney, Columbia Pictures, Paramount Pictures, Universal Studio and Fox Movies, all MPAA members, said Shenzhen Xunlei Networking Company Ltd has, without permission, allowed its users to search and download movies from its file-sharing service.

On its website www.xunlei.com, the company lists the introduction and previews of movies, as well as Internet links to watch online or download for free. It also provides a computer program, with which users can search and download movies, according to the big six.

The movie companies are seeking more than 7.11 million yuan ($1.01 million) compensation for 32 movies including The Da Vinci Code, Charlie's Angeles and Spider-Man 3, which can be accessed from the Internet company's service.

The Internet company claims on its website that it is the largest Internet search engine for movies in China, with nearly 145 million users. From it, 1.73 billion downloads are carried out every month, the indictment says.

In February, the six handed their indictment to the Shanghai Pudong New Area District People's Court, but Xunlei claimed that the court was not the right one to try the case.

The six subsequently withdrew the case and are now taking it to the Shanghai No 2 Intermediate People's Court next week, a court source told China Daily.

It is just one of the cases MPAA members have filed in China since 2006 after 42 cases involving 135 infringements were ruled in favor of MPAA.

Its members received more than 2 million yuan ($690,000) compensation from the cases.

"Courts in Shanghai are receiving more litigation involving disputes over intellectual property right (IPR)," Ying Xinlong, deputy director of Shanghai High People's Court, said yesterday.

"And the number of cases filed by foreign companies or individuals is also on the rise."

From 1994, when courts in Shanghai began to set up individual departments to try IPR cases, more than 8,000 cases have been heard.

Nearly 6,000 of them were tried in the past five years.

The number of IPR-related cases grows by 10 percent every year, according to Ying.

In 2007, 11.3 percent of IPR cases involved a foreign party.

Most of them are filed by companies or individuals from the US, Japan, Britain, Germany, France and the Netherlands. And more people are being sentenced to jail for infringements.

A man in Shanghai's Qipu Market selling fake Levis jeans was given a 3-year suspended imprisonment.

He was later sued by Levis and made to pay compensation of 500,000 yuan ($71,400).

(China Daily April 21, 2008)