China drafts new measures against online video piracy

The Chinese government has mapped out new measures to supervise and manage the copyright status of films and TV series broadcast online.

According to a statement released after a meeting held by the National Copyright Administration (NCA) to sum up the progress of an online copyright infringement crackdown, supervision and management measures on the online use of TV and film products will further clarify the targets and procedures of supervision work, a warning system and a copyright database for public monitoring.

The NCA has completed drafting and plans to release the measures in 2013, said the statement, without offering further details.

The statement noted that online video piracy has been reined in "to some extent" since the government introduced a self-disciplinary system that encourages various websites to monitor the copyright status of the video content they host. This month, Apple Inc.'s App Store was also included in the system.

Meanwhile, the NCA has also included 20 major websites, including Sina, Youku and Sohu, in its key monitoring network.

Based on information on authorized copyright material reported by various websites, the NCA has set up a database for public inquiry, which is especially for copyright owners and those posting and transferring videos online.

According to the statement, various local copyright administration departments handled 282 cases of online piracy from July to October, with 93 servers confiscated and 183 websites shut down.