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Sony BMG, Warner ponder using new criminal law against Chinese Web sites

Sony BMG Music Entertainment and Warner Music Group Corp are among record labels that may use a new criminal law to fight against Chinese Web sites that infringe copyright laws, according to a music industry group.

The Chinese law, which took effect on Saturday, fines distributors of illegally copied music, movies and other material over the Internet as much as 100,000 yuan (US$12,500). As of yesterday, Chinese search engines operated by Yahoo China and Baidu.com Inc provide links to other Web sites hosting illegally copied songs.

"I'm very positive about these new regulations," Leong May-seey, the Hong Kong-based Asia director at the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, said yesterday. "We will work with the authorities to step up action and protect our members' interests."

About 90 percent of recordings in China are illegal, with sales of pirated music worth about US$400 million annually, according to the federation, which is affiliated with the Recording Industry Association of America. The US has threatened to file a case to the WTO unless China reduces incidents of intellectual property violation.

Seven record labels comprising Sony BMG, Warner, EMI Group Plc, Universal Music Group, Go East Entertainment Co, Gold Label Entertainment Ltd and Cinepoly Records Co last year filed a civil case against Baidu.com, China's most-used search engine. No outcome has been reached yet.

A criminal case "is more serious," Adam Tseui, a Taipei-based senior vice president at Sony BMG Asia, said yesterday. "This is a good direction."

A criminal case is typically brought by government authorities and can involve penalties including jail time and fines. A civil suit is generally brought by private parties and involves financial damages.

"Punishments issued under criminal law are usually harsher than ones issued in civil cases," said Shao Chunyang, a partner at Jun He Law Firm in Shanghai.

It is also more difficult to set a compensation payment in civil cases, in which plaintiffs have to prove losses, Shao said.

The new law adopted by the State Council on May 18 stipulates that a Web site is jointly liable for infringement "if it knows or should know that the work, performance or sound or video recording linked to was infringing."

Under the new law, Web sites will need to give authorities contact information for owners of sites that distribute pirated material.

"The policy we currently have is compliant with the law," said Porter Erisman, a spokesman for Alibaba.com Corp, which manages the Yahoo China site.
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