Two Chinese government agencies are to work with the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) to stamp out video piracy. 

On Wednesday, China's Ministry of Culture (MOC), the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT) and the MPAA signed a memorandum to establish a Sino-US motion picture copyrights protection coordination mechanism.

The MPAA will meet with the agencies every three months to submit a list containing information on soon-to-be-released films and the names of the local licensees, publishers and the release dates of the official home videos of those motion pictures in China.

"The Chinese government has always been steadfast in protecting intellectual property rights," said Zhang Xinjian, deputy director of MOC's cultural marketing department. "And now we will make more efforts in collaborating with international organizations to fight pirated products." At the meetings, the groups will also "exchange research on the piracy situation of home video products and consultation over action plans," Zhang said.

Michael C. Ellis, senior vice president and regional director of the Asia-Pacific Division of the MPAA, who signed the memorandum with Zhang, said: "The Chinese government is very sincere in intellectual property protection. I am confident that after the memorandum is signed, the three parties shall, based on good-faith cooperation, seek proper solutions through friendly consultations in order to exchange information, coordinate actions and make joint efforts to deal with problems."

(China Daily July 15, 2005)