China is aiming to help tackle its serious piracy problem following the Business Software Alliance (BSA) and Motion Picture Association (MPA) signing an agreement with the National Copyright Administration of China (NCAC) for protection against Internet piracy in china. To help enforce this, the Association of American Publishers and The Publishers Association of the U.K. have also signed the proposal, which will require the industry groups to provide details about legal authorised products distributed by their member companies in China.
This agreement will make it easier for the NCAC to determine which online products have been made legally or illegally available online. The NCAC will also take in reports of online piracy and report them to the proper legal authorities. In 2005, the BSA estimated China's software piracy at 86% and the MPA estimates movie piracy to be even higher at 93% for its member's products, based on the estimated sales had pirated versions not been available.
With China's severe piracy rate as it stands, it will be interesting to see how much of an effect this piracy agreement will have. Earlier this week, the five U.S. movie studios have succeeded in winning a court case against a Beijing company that was selling pirated copies of several Hollywood titles. Further details can be read in this Top Tech News source.
