The Chinese Government is offering a maximum reward of 300,000 yuan (US$36,000) to people who report illegal CD/DVD copy production lines, according to the National Office for Cracking Down on Pornography and Piracy (NPP).
Vice-Minister of the NPP Liu Binjie said the office had opened a tip-off hotline (010-65233456) for people to report pirate factories on the Chinese mainland. The announcement came at the launching of a new round of nationwide crackdowns on pirated audio and video products yesterday in Beijing.
"Recently there has been a growing trend of pirating famous domestic or international films and TV series, seriously threatening legal products and the market," Liu said.
The crackdown was co-launched by eight government departments, including the NPP, Ministry of Public Security, General Administration of Press and Publications, General Administration of Customs, Ministry of Culture and the State Administration for Industry and Commerce.
Informers will receive a reward of 150,000 to 300,000 yuan (US$18,000 to 36,000) for each illegal production line reported, according to the NPP's new hotline.
"The Chinese Government's commitment to protecting intellectual property right is very serious because we not only need to improve China's economic environment, but more importantly, we are eager to protect our nation's ability to innovate," Liu said.
Liu also stressed the importance of anti-piracy education in primary and middle schools to raise awareness of the crime amongst society as a whole.
According to incomplete statistics from the NPP, the country confiscated 800 million pirated audio and video products from 1994 to 2004.
And 200 illegal CD/DVD production lines were shut while more than 40 million yuan (US$4.82 million) was paid out in rewards to informers during the same 10-year period.
"We have noticed the efforts made by the Chinese Government to combat piracy and we can sense their fruits," said Ho Wai Hung, director of China regional operations of the Motion Picture Association which represents the US audiovisual industry and was set up to promote US films on the international market.
"For example, thanks to the Chinese Government's efforts in fighting piracy, the
Hong Kong film Kung Fu Hustle has enjoyed a sales volume of 2 million VCD/DVDs on the Chinese mainland this year while normal sales volume for a
Hong Kong film on the mainland was less than 20,000 previously," Ho said.
