China Daily:

I would like to ask that while seven theatrical releases including "Hi, Mom" during the Spring Festival 2021 have set new box office records for Chinese New Year film season, the issue of piracy is still arousing concerns. What measures have been taken in this regard? Thank you.

Tang Zhaozhi:

Thank you for your question. From February to March this year, in order to regulate the copyright order of the film market, the copyright management division under the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee, the China Film Administration under the Publicity Department, and the Food-and Drug-Related Crime Investigation Bureau of the Ministry of Public Security jointly deployed and carried out centralized action to crack down on the distribution of movies pirated by recording in theaters. We adopted a variety of effective measures to severely crack down on the illegal and criminal activities of piracy and distribution of theatrical releases during the Spring Festival.

We have carried out the work in the following aspects. First, we deployed an early warning protection system. On Feb. 8, the National Copyright Administration (NCAC) released the second list detailing the key works for copyright protection in 2021, and included seven Chinese New Year theatrical releases including "Hi, Mom" into the early warning protection system. We asked providers of various internet services such as content, storage, search links, e-commerce websites, and app stores to take effective measures to prevent and promptly deal with infringement and piracy behaviors such as pirated recording and distribution of theatrical movies.

Second, we strengthened patrolling and monitoring. Local copyright and film authorities have strengthened the patrolling management of movie theaters, strictly guarded against covert filming and recording, and intensified online inspections and piracy monitoring. During their concentrated operations, the local copyright and film authorities focused their inspections and patrolling on the screening and distribution of seven Spring Festival theatrical releases, dispatched law enforcement personnel more than 36,500 times, inspected theaters, on-demand theaters and other venues more than 11,800 times, and inspected various websites over 2,682 times. According to monitoring results, there was no occurrence of piracy or infringement on legitimate video websites. Pirated content and links are mostly spread illegally through social platforms, online cloud storage, e-commerce platforms, and unregistered small websites without getting permits to provide internet content and online broadcast services. Most of such small websites are placed on servers outside of China.  

Third, we quickly dealt with infringements. Local copyright and film authorities arranged multi-shifts and multi-line responses, carefully screened and systematically sorted out the complaints of rights holders and the information reported by the public, and supervised and urged all internet service providers to take emergency measures to quickly delete more than 30,000 infringing links related to theatrical releases during the Spring Festival.

Fourth, we investigated and handled major cases. Local copyright and film authorities and public security organs have strengthened their efforts to identify clues and actively find the sources of cases, identifying a number of secret filming and recording suspects. Public security organs launched criminal investigations to hold the wrongdoers criminally responsible in accordance with the law, and promoted the investigation and handling of cases to trace their roots, break up gangs and destroy networks. At present, 39 key cases involving infringement and piracy of cinema films have been investigated and handled around the country, and 45 infringing websites have been shut down, effectively curbing the momentum of pirated movie recordings in cinemas.

Next, local law enforcement agencies will dig deeper into the sources of piracy, increase efforts to crack down on secret filming and pirated recordings in theaters, and severely investigate and punish websites, WeChat public accounts, and e-commerce operators that sell and distribute pirated films. They will supervise and urge all online platforms to strengthen the main responsibility of enterprises, and in accordance with the law, severely penalize acts of pirating and disseminating theatrical releases which would generate strong complaints from the right holders and cause great social harm. This will create a good social atmosphere that respects copyright and creation, and promotes the prosperity and healthy development of the film industry. Thank you.