BEIJING - China is planning to introduce a blacklist system for websites charged with online piracy of films and TV series as part of a major effort to better protect copyright, a senior official said on Friday.

Wang Zhicheng, deputy director of the copyright department of the National Copyright Administration (NCA) said at a press conference that his administration plans to conduct a routine check every three months to review and supervise the legitimacy of the 50 most viewed films and 50 most viewed TV series on each major website.

The routine check will cover all the 18 top Chinese video websites, which maintain a combined online-video market share of about 95 percent.

The NCA will name and shame those websites that provide visitors with unauthorized films and TV series on the administration's website as a warning to copyright violators, Wang said.

Any website that ignores the warning will face an administrative penalty or even criminal punishment, he warned.

The NCA's three-month campaign against online piracy, codenamed Sword Net, ended in October 2010.

In September 2010, the NCA issued a regulation requesting 15 pilot sites to provide details of the permission they had to offer their most watched films and TV series.

The regulation stipulated that the websites had to remove any unauthorized products and to inform the NCA of any such decisions.

However, until this month only six sites had submitted reports, while only two out of the 15 websites had completely deleted the video links, said Wang.

Further investigation found each site had deleted an average of 75 pirated works.

Two websites, including the popular verycd.com, were found to have retained pirated online videos and face severe punishment, Wang said.

Verycd.com, a leading Chinese website offering free movie and music downloads - most deemed unauthorized - on Saturday removed all of its music download links.

Earlier media reports speculated that the site might face suspension at the end of this month because it does not have a license.

To ensure the regulation take effect, Wang urged the websites to continue to self-regulate and to report a list of their authorized works before Feb 14. The administration will then check the accuracy of their reports, he said.

Wang Ziqiang, director of the copyright department, said the industry has improved in the past year after the government reinforced the crackdown on the once rampant online violation of copyright.

According to Wang, in China about 70 percent of Korean TV dramas, which have been popular in recent years, have had authorization from the copyright owners.

"We will bring to court those websites that repeatedly violate copyright," he said.

Wang also advised copyright owners and online video websites to cooperate in reaching more agreements on distribution rights.

Statistics from the State Intellectual Property Office showed the number of online intellectual property rights (IPR) violation cases in 2009 made up about 50 percent of all copyright cases.

On Jan 11, the Supreme People's Court, the Supreme People's Procuratorate and the Ministry of Public Security jointly issued a judicial document that for the first time detailed the definition of online IPR violation.

Huang Hua, a copyright expert with Beijing-based Wowa Media Company, hailed the administration's effort, saying the new move will at least deter further online copyright infringement.

Huang suggested that an inter-ministry collaboration between the NCA, the State Administration for Industry and Commerce and the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television might be more effective in curbing online piracy.

Cao Yin contributed to this story.

China Daily

(China Daily 01/29/2011 page3)