Yesterday, the Motion Picture Association of America (MPA), China's Ministry of Culture (MOC), State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT) and National Copyright Administration held a joint press conference in Beijing to announce the results of copyright protection efforts since their July 13 memorandum on anti-piracy of films in China.

China doubled its box office takings to US$300 million in 2004, but the MPA said 95 percent of its members' products were pirated there at the end of the year and the associated loss of revenue exceeded US$280 million.

Zhang Xinjian, deputy director of the MOC's culture market department, pledged to enhance anti-piracy enforcement through consumer education as well as crackdowns on street sellers.

Under the terms of July's memorandum, every three months the MPA will submit a list of films its members plan to screen in China to the MOC and SARFT. All home video products available prior to their authorized release dates are deemed illegal and, when criminal copyright infringement has taken place, the case will be prosecuted.

Zhang Pimin, SARFT deputy director, said the agreement provided an efficient mechanism for communication and collaboration between the two sides.

The first seven titles submitted by the MPA included Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, xXx: State of the Union and Batman Begins.

MPA surveys of target outlets in Shanghai found that no pirate versions of films covered by the agreement were available at all during October, and in Guangzhou and Shenzhen there was a great reduction in September. However, in Beijing their availability actually increased from last month to be almost universal.

Mike Ellis, MPA's Asia-Pacific regional director, said that although good progress had been made in some areas, much work remained to be done.

Alongside the quarterly conferences to determine the effectiveness of the agreement, the two sides also agreed to hold additional consultations in relation to protection of films not covered by the memorandum.

According to a White Paper on China's progress in copyright protection released by the State Council in April, China had seized over 154 million pirated audio and video products in 2004 and more than 450 million illegal optical discs had been destroyed over the past four years.

(China.org.cn by Li Xiao, October 26, 2005)