Six US movie studios win China piracy case

Beijing, Apr 25 (Reuters) Six US movie companies have won a case against a Beijing DVD store that was selling pirated copies of their films, the official Xinhua news agency said today, as China pledges to get tough on copyright pirates.

The six -- Warner Bros, Columbia Pictures, Universal City Studios, Paramount Pictures, 20th Century Fox and Walt Disney -- found the store was selling fake versions of films such as ''i,Robot'' and ''Before Sunset'', the report said.

A Beijing court ordered Beijing Cherry Blossom Star Culture Company and its affiliated DVD shop to pay 195,000 yuan in compensation, though the US companies had sought 2.46 million yuan, Xinhua said.

''Lawyers for the American companies determined the shop was owned by Cherry Blossom Star Culture Company, which they say infringed their copyright by reproducing the movies without permission,'' it said.

''The Beijing company argued that it was not directly involved in selling the pirated DVDs, but admitted it was affiliated with the Lihua Zhisheng DVD shop, which has already stopped selling pirated DVDs,'' Xinhua said.

The firm said it was willing to apologise, though the court did not order an apology, the report added. China has been riled by US complaints to the World Trade Organisation that it is not doing enough to tackle piracy, such as the billions lost each year by Hollywood to copyright pirates.

The government says it does take the problem seriously, but faces a multitude of problems, such as convincing the public not to buy fakes.

Reuters RS GC2051