A pirate CD maker and smuggler was sentenced to jail for life by an intermediate people's court in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region on Thursday.

The court also ordered that 4 million yuan (US$ 500,000) of Lin Yuehua's personal property be confiscated.

Lin was the boss of a CD piracy and smuggling operation, the largest one which has been so far uncovered in China. His eleven accomplices were also given jail sentences ranging from two to fifteen years. The twelve were convicted of intellectual property rights violation and smuggling.

The court said Lin and his men bought five advanced CD production lines worth more than US$ 10 million and established a company abroad in 2002, mass producing pirate DVDs and VCDs.

The gang then smuggled the pirated audio and video products into the Chinese mainland.

From Dec. 2002 to May 2005, Lin's company smuggled into China over 30 million discs worth 188 million yuan (about US$ 23.5 million), the court said in its verdict.

(Xinhua News Agency November 24, 2006)