MPA settles with China Net service

Defendants stopped carrying films, apologized

By PATRICK FRATER

A Chinese online service and a Shanghai Internet cafe have settled with the Motion Picture Assn. in a case concerning infringement of movie rights in China's fast-growing online sector.

MPA had charged Beijing Jeboo Interactive Science & Technology with unauthorized use of 20 Hollywood movies, including "Pirates of the Caribbean 2: Dead Man's Chest" and "Hitch" (Daily Variety, Nov. 23).

The defendants stopped carrying the pics, apologized, pledged not to repeat the infringement in the future and paid a significant compensation, the MPA said.

Although the case cited specific titles, the pledge extends to all MPA titles from all six Hollywood studios.

With fast Internet connections to home computers still something of a rarity, China has a massive Internet cafe culture, where consumers spend many hours, often in groups, watching movies.

Cafes pay a monthly subscription fee to Jeboo or other similar platforms for a LAN system, with Jeboo providing daily updates of content, which includes movies, TV shows, sports, music, general entertainment and cartoon programming.

Although most of the content offered by Jeboo is authorized, the MPA member company titles were not.

Terms of the settlement, reached Feb. 28 but only recently unveiled, will be endorsed by the Shanghai No. 2 People's Intermediary Court.

"This court-supervised settlement affirms the sovereignty of the Chinese judiciary for the prompt and equitable resolution of intellectual property rights disputes, which should be gratifying to copyright owners around the world," Frank Rittman, VP and Asia-Pacific regional counsel for the MPA said.