Scrutiny and punishment for copyright violations in China is earning some plaudits from overseas rights holders as the battle against copycats and illegal content intensifies.

With foreign TV series and imported reality shows soaring in popularity on Chinese screens and video websites, copyright disputes from unauthorized video streaming and outright copying have hampered China's ascent to a strong intellectual property country.

"We've found some piracy cases involving formats for TV series and entertainment programs from (South) Korea, and received complaints from original rights holders or producers that their programs were reproduced illegally," Ahn Sung-Seop, regional director of Korea Copyright Commission's Beijing office, told China Daily on Jan 14.

A giant poster for South Korean TV drama My Love from the Star at an exhibition in Seoul. The drama now popular in China has been a victim of online piracy. Photos provided to China Daily

With the popularity of South Korean entertainment stars surging in China, soap operas such as My Love from the Star and hit reality shows like I Am a Singer became targets of online piracy.

But the annual Jianwang Operation is fighting back. A nationwide campaign against copyright infringement started by the National Copyright Administration in 2005, it wrapped up another eventful year in 2014.

During the six-month campaign, 440 copyright violation cases were investigated by copyright authorities and police, with 66 turned over to judicial organs for criminal prosecution. A total 750 websites that were streaming unlicensed content were shut down and a combined 3.52 million yuan ($567,072) in fines levied.

A large portion of the pirate sites were accused of unauthorized streaming of copyrighted TV series, reality shows and movies or providing illegal downloads of high-definition works. Among those shut down was shooter.cn, popular subtitled video sharing website.

The operator of shooter.cn sold more than 100 video and audio collections, each with 200 high-definition movies from the United States, South Korea and Japan, without authorization in 2013 while providing free downloads of pirated subtitled movies.

The site was forced to close in November 2014 and the operator received an administrative fine of 100,000 yuan. The case was listed among the 10 typical copyright violation cases in the 2014 Jianwang Operation.

Since 2005, the operation has stopped more than 4,681 online copyright infringements, shut down 1,926 websites and confiscated 1,178 servers.

Tao Xinliang, an intellectual property expert, hailed the campaign's contribution to raising the public awareness of copyright protection in Chinese market,

"The closure of violating websites shows that the country's scrutiny of online piracy has become more sophisticated than ever amid the overwhelming demand for tougher controls and stronger penalties from overseas rights holders," said Tao, director of Shanghai University's IPR College.

Ahn, regional director of KCC's Beijing office, echoed Tao, saying that China's copyright protection is progressing.

"With the help from the national campaign and copyright promotion, the number of complaints about works being counterfeited is declining. More and more Chinese television stations and private broadcasters established official connections with Korean producers to import authorized works," said Ahn.

The KCC's Beijing office opened in 2006 as a South Korean government entity to promote legal use of works and was first involved in the Jianwang Operation in 2011.

"Although we've made progress in the crackdown on copyright infringement, there is a lot to be done such as building stricter legal system and wider collaboration between cyberspace and public security authorities to strengthen enforcement," said Yan Xiaohong, vice director of the NCA.

As part of the country's efforts against copyright violation, central and regional Internet administrations will keep closer watch on major web portals and streaming sites, said Li Xiangning, deputy director of the telecommunication administration of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

"Apart from supervision, the IT authorities will also provide technical support to copyright law enforcement teams in investigation and evidence collection," said Li.

More than 3,000 Chinese websites carrying movies, TV dramas, music and literature works have been monitored by copyright supervisors since 2009.

sunxiaochen@chinadaily.com.cn

Genuine and pirated goods are shown together for comparison at a copyright exhibition in Zhengzhou, Henan province.