As web surfers learned last year, the Chinese government can be noxiously nosy when it comes to controlling what their citizens look at on computer screens.
But watching pirated DVD’s on their TV screens? Different story.
Nine out of ten DVD’s in China are illegal, according to Motion Pictures Association of America, so the Hollywood-based industry group today launched a game of economic hardball against the black market trade in China by filing a complaint through the World Trade Organization. China joined WTO in 2001.
The gist of the case to be presented by Office of the U.S. Trade Representative: Crack down on illegal trade. The implied “or else” - - face trade sanctions.
MPAA Chairman Dan Glickman says “China is, by virtually any and every measure, the world’s largest marketplace for pirate goods. There is much at stake, not only for U.S. copyright industries, but for China’s own intellectual property-based sector.”
According to the trade group, movie studios Disney, Paramount, Sony, Fox, Universal and Warner Bros. lose about $2.3 billion a year to Chinese black marketers.
