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China announces crackdown on audio, video piracy

BEIJING: Beijing on Friday announced it would launch a 15-week crackdown on widespread audio and video piracy in the country starting on New Year's Day.

Quoting culture ministry official Liu Luping, the official Xinhua news agency said the campaign would mainly target illegal production and smuggling of copyrighted video and audio products.

In a rare acknowledgment of the problem, he said the illicit trade had become rampant in 1999, a situation that had "seriously threatened the domestic industry of publication".

Sellers will have a grace period, until January 15 to turn over the pirated goods. Otherwise, they will face "heavy fines" and suspension of business licence, where appropriate.

A long series of such crackdowns in the last several years have failed to stem the ubiquitous trade of cheap pirated copies of music compact discs and movies Ñ sold both in the form of video compact discs (VCDs) and even more advanced digital video discs (DVDs).

VCD copies of new Hollywood releases appear on the streets of major cities within weeks of their international debuts, selling for as little as 13 yuan (1.56 dollars).

Analysts said the situation has crippled the development of a legitimate consumer-entertainment market in China. Beijing's anti-piracy pushes typically spotlight mass seizure and destruction of illicit goods without making a serious impact on pirate production facilities, which they say are mainly located in southern Guangdong province.

A similar crackdown in October, for example, saw 3.2 million pirated laser video discs confiscated. Consumers normally face no punishment. AFP