Hollywood wins copyright suit in China
Hollywood movie studios have won a lawsuit in China over the unlawful posting of copyrighted movie clips on the Internet, according to the Motion Picture Association (MPA).
The MPA said in a statement that a unit of Sohu.com Inc., the company behind some of China's most popular Web portals, was defeated in a copyright infringement lawsuit after it posted digital files of motion pictures such as the Lord of the Rings, Dawn of the Dead and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban for downloading.
The MPA - international counterpart of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) - believe that major global movie studios lost about $2.3 billion to Internet piracy in 2005.
Sohu.com has been ordered to pay damages & costs totalling 1.1 million yuan ($139,000) by The Beijing First Intermediate People's Court, the group added. When contacted by telephone, a spokesman for Sohu.com denied knowledge of the suit, however official newspapers in Beijing also confirmed the court judgement.
Source:
Reuters
