National Copyright Administration Addresses Piracy across Media

30 August 2013

The National Copyright Administration of China (NCAC) has responded to a media outcry following a the release of a report about anime, music and book piracy in China.

The report, from the Agency for Cultural Affairs of Japan, showed results of an online survey conducted in China regarding Japanese anime products, indicating that Japan annually loses US$37.5 billion to piracy in China. However, Yu Cike, a senior official of the NCAC called the results unconvincing. On one hand, Yu said, a universal piracy survey would often take manufacturing, distribution, sales, usage, etc., into account rather than only end-users. On the other, Yu said, the respondents in the survey were one-sided, as they were in certain developed cities that had relatively more exposure to anime when compared with the rest of China. All in all, the online survey and the “point to an area” approach led to data exaggeration, Yu said.

Yu also said that “music downloads on the internet will be fully charged” from July 2013, saying that whether and how music downloads are charged should be left to rights holders and network operators to decide.

Amid news reports that third party sellers on Amazon were selling fake books, Yu said the NCAC began investigation as soon as it saw the news and that the NCAC has levied administrative sanctions and has ordered Amazon to carry out efforts to rectify the sales of fake books. Amazon is reportedly making positive changes as required by the NCAC.

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