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U.S. Movie Studios Win Piracy Case in China Court

Over the last months (in the follow-up to the last US delegation and the
build-up to the next one, as it appeared), a number of crackdowns on film
and other piracy could be observed. Now one of these actuallt led to a court
decision, as AP and IHT report: Five film studios have had sued a Beijing
DVD store for selling pirated copies of their movies. The Beijing No.2
Intermediate People's Court ruled the shop and its parent company was
guilty and ordered them to stop selling them. On top of that, there is a
considerable compensation obligation of 164,000 RMB.
Full article at
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2006/12/19/business/AS_FIN_China_Movies_Court.php

The China Law Blog adds an interesting comment on how copyright protection can be secured in China and what benefits arise from copyright registration.
http://www.chinalawblog.com/chinalawblog/2006/12/how_to_protect_.html

Time Warner Ends Theater Run In China Over a Rule Change

Some news services report on Time Warner's announcement to pull out of the movie-theater business in China. After revisions in  initial foreign investment regulations, it appears to be impossible for investors to retain control over a cinema business in China at the moment.

Among others: Wall Street Journal (subsricption content): http://users1.wsj.com/lmda/do/checkLogin?mg=wsj-users1&url=http%3A%2F%2Fonline.wsj.com%2Farticle%2FSB116301582855217581.html%3Fmod%3Drss_whats_news_asia

China tightening control of online game contents

Sydney Morning Herald (http://www.smh.com.au/) reports on the new
regulations relating Online gaming:
Full Source:
http://www.smh.com.au/news/Technology/China-tightening-control-of-online-gam
e-contents/2006/12/12/1165685659789.html
"China is tightening controls on its booming online game industry, requiring
distributors to closely monitor game contents after some were found that
included forbidden religious or political material, a state news agency said
Tuesday. [...] Distributors must obtain approval to release new games and
submit monthly monitoring reports confirming that operators haven't added
forbidden content".

All US government websites analysed

The National Policy Research Council (NPRC) has published an investigation "all known" (might this be part of the problem??) U.S. official state and local government Web sites. As always, I find the results (State of Michigan wins) less interesting than the indicators used: In this case, only 25 features and practices were investigated, which does not allow for a very in-depth analysis. But you can still congratulate the winner, of course. Full report at http://www.public-cio.com/newsStory.php?id=2006.11.29-102575.