Nine jailed in anti-piracy campaign
(Agencies)
Updated: 2006-10-20 13:51
Nine people convicted of selling illegally copied DVDs and other goods have
been jailed for up to 13 years in China's biggest anti-piracy campaign to date,
a news report said Friday.
The sentences were the longest reported since China stepped up penalties for
product piracy in mid-2005, imposing jail time in addition to fines that
Washington and other governments had complained were inadequate to stop the
thriving underground industry.
The latest move was launched July 25 against producers of unlicensed copies
of goods ranging from movies and software to designer clothes and sporting
goods.
Four people were sentenced to 13 years in prison for producing and selling
pirated publications in separate cases in the cities of Ningbo in the east and
Xiamen in the southeast, the Xinhua News Agency reported.
The defendant in Xiamen, Wang Guimei, was fined 40,000 yuan (US$5,000),
Xinhua said. It didn't give the identities of those convicted in Ningbo.
"The severe punishment demonstrates the government's determination to battle
piracy and protect intellectual property," said a statement by the national
anti-piracy agency, quoted by Xinhua.
In the eastern city of Qingdao, a defendant was sentenced to two years in
prison for selling pirated DVDs and computer software, according to Xinhua.
Elsewhere, two men received one year in prison for selling pirated CDs and
DVDs over the Internet, Xinhua said. Two other defendants received 18- and
eight-month sentences and fines of 200,000 yuan (US$25,000) and 100,000 yuan
(US$12,500).
Last month, authorities destroyed nearly 13 million pirated CDs, DVDs and
computer software in their campaign, Xinhua said.
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