Jianwang Operation raids deterring piracy nationwide

The five-month 2016 Jianwang Operation has made "great achievements" and China's online copyright environment has been "further improved", said officials from the National Copyright Administration at a meeting last week in Beijing.

The operation, launched on July 12, was an annual campaign against online piracy initiated in 2005, targeting unauthorized streaming, downloading and sale of literature, film, TV and music.

The NCA, having cooperated with a number of other administrative departments, local governments and law enforcement, investigated 514 administrative cases involving online piracy around the country from July to November, shutting down 290 illegal websites that provided unlicensed content.

The authorities also issued 4.67 million yuan ($672,232) in fines during the period.

More than 30 of the cases, involving 200 million yuan in total, were transferred to the judicial authorities for criminal prosecution.

Online piracy has "severely harmed the interests of original copyright holders, misled consumers and tarnished our country's image in the intellectual property sector", said Yan Xiaohong, deputy director of the NCA.

Officials said they intensified administrative and criminal penalties against online piracy this year.

A Beijing-based cultural company was investigated for selling pirated books through six online shops on Taobao.com. Local copyright administration and police seized more than 8,000 copies of 38 kinds of books at the company, and found that it had made 4 million yuan in sales. Four suspects have been arrested.

The Tianjin copyright administration and police last month raided a website that had provided nearly 70,000 pirated movies and TV dramas. The two suspects, who had made nearly 1 million yuan from advertising, are under criminal internment.

In Chongqing, local authorities handled a series of cases involving many pirated online games. The suspects were found to have built private servers to make illegal income of more than 5.7 million yuan. Eight of them have been seized.

"Despite the fruitful operation, we shall keep our strong stance against infringements and work closely with relevant internet scrutiny and law enforcement departments to deter piracy," Yan said.