Remember the somewhat vague report about the Chinese crackdown at the end of last year on the 17 production lines that were making pirate CD’s were shut down and 79 newspapers and 50 types of software games were banned? See here.
Now Faye Wang has written for Interfax China an article about a crackdown that also took place at the end of last year (September to December) on internet servers that infringed intellectual property rights. Her source is Zhao Xiuling, head of the copyright management department under the National Copyright Administration of China (中文）.
“During a three-month campaign from September to December of last year, authorities either fined or brought criminal indictments against 29 Chinese websites found to be providing pirated online gaming services and cheat-software, Zhao said at the 2005 China Game Industry Annual Conference (CGIAC) in the city of Xiamen, Fujian Province.“
Results of the three months anti-piracy campaign:
Shut down a total of 76 websites that were providing pirated internet services and content
Confiscated 39 network servers that were used to host pirated content and services
Ordered 137 websites to remove content and services that violated intellectual property rights.
Investigation of a total of 172 cases of internet copyright infringement, these involved a total of 173 Chinese websites and 405 network servers
Wang ends her article with an illuminating line-up of all governement organisations involved:
- Publicity Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China
- Anti-pornographic and Illegal Publications Working Group
- General Administration of Press and Publication
- National Copyright Administration
- Ministry of Public Security
- Ministry of Information Industry
- Ministry of Culture
- State Administration for Industry & Commerce
It may be a comprehensive campaign, but all these organisations involved is bit much, to my taste. Why can’t the Ministry of Public Security, who has a kind of police force, not handle it alone?
Read Wangs Interfax China article here
