China's NCA: Authorized Copyrighted Works on Video Sharing Sites Average 76 Percent

"China's National Copyright Administration (NCA) recently announced that on average, only 76 percent of the movies and TV series on the country's 18 major video-sharingwebsites are authorized copyrighted works",  wrote Lu Yanxia of Beijing Daily, edited and translated by Yao Chun of People's Daily Online here.

The top 5 most popular video sites in China are, according to Alexa: 

1. Youku

2. Tudou

3. Ku6.com

4. 56.com

5. Joy.cn

Video sharing sites Xunlei, VeryCD, and Baidu video have not submitted the list of copyrighted movies and tv series they share to NCA. So the percentage might go up or down.

I think this percentage is too low. This problem is not limited to China. I think the enforcement system for online copyrighted works is in need for a systemic overhaul. I will publish a paper on the subject soon. 

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Video Copyright Enforcement/Anti-Piracy in China Comes of Age

Andy Greenberg wrote two great articles for Forbes about video copyright piracy in China.

In 'Video Piracy's China Syndrome' he writes that "[a]ccording to date from copyright-fingerprinting start-up Vobile, the number of copyright-infringing videos on some Chinese sites like Ku6 and Youku has jumped more than six-fold between September 2007 and September 2008 [..]"

In 'Sinking China's Video Pirates' Greenberg gives an introduction of Vobile and the service deals it struck with 56.com and Pomoho to check whether their users have uploaded content that infringes copyright. Greenberg writes:

"Even as sites like YouTube, Dailymotion and Veoh have purged the vast majority of their infringing content in recent years, Asian user-generated video sites like 56.com, Tudou, Youku, Ku6.com and Megavideo have become frustrating black holes for intellectual property. A second layer of sites like Alluc.org, MovieTVonline.com and Sidereel.com--all based in the West-- have made a business of cataloging pirated clips on those sites and linking to them for a global audience."

Read more of Greenberg's article here.

Interlingua Publishing's China Piracy Reports has a good report 'Famous Video Streaming Website Punished for Copyright Infringement' on a relevant 2008 case: Sifang Yuanchuang International Film, Yingyi Entertainment and China Warner Film Corp. as plaintiffs and Tudou.com as defendant for copyright infringement by streaming the video 'Crazy Stone'.

"Shanghai No. 1 Intermediate People's Court ordered Tudou.com to delete the film from their server, and pay damages in the amount of RMB 50,000."

Tudou.com tried to defend itself by saying that they had a computerised system in place, but that it did not have the characteristic code and the copyright holder did not file any notification.

Despite this, the judge decided that the "amount of financial and human power investment and the popularity of the film, Tudou.com should have been aware that the copyright holder was not likely to offer free viewing service of the film online."

Read Interlingua Publishing's report here.

Read also JLM Pacific Epoch's article 'Youku Sued, Claims Its Inundated by Content'.

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IPR Officials Say The Darndest Things: Progress in Collecting Karaoke Copyright Royalties

Yan Liang of Xinhua News reports that "nearly half of the Chinese provinces have taken initiatives to collect karaoke copyright royalties by the end of 2007 in an effort to protect intellectual property rights (IPR) in audio and video sectors."

"An official with the country's IPR protection group echoed Liu, saying that the move marked new progress in property protection." One could describe 15 out of a total of 22 provinces, where initiatives to collect karaoke copyright royalties took place, as a meagre result. Then again, from 0 to something is progress.

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Japanese Video: Overview IP in China

Not in the mood for reading, but you want to get an overview of IP in China? Watch the following Japanese news item with an English voice-over about IP in China here.

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