Hollywood asks China to cut piracy before Olympics

[Deja Q]

LOL

http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9595-5994033.html

Hollywood's top lobbyist has urged the Chinese to crack down on movie piracy and open its markets to additional American-made films by the 2008 Olympics.

Speaking on Tuesday at an industry convention in Beijing, Motion Picture Association of America chairman and CEO Dan Glickman said the Olympics is a perfect time to prove the nation's commitment to ending copyright piracy and opening its markets, according to an advance copy of the speech provided by the trade body.

"In 2008, China will be at the center of the world stage, hosting the 29th Olympic Games. It will be a terrific moment of pride for the country," he said according to the speech. "And so I would like to plant this challenge: by 2008, to have more legal than illegal DVDs sold in China, to have more American movies in Chinese theaters and to have more Chinese movies in American theaters."

Motion picture piracy in China costs U.S. studios nearly $300 million a year, according to industry estimates. Though the Chinese allow as many as 20 U.S. theatrical releases into the country each year, the average number of U.S. films admitted is 14.

Glickman said where the Chinese have a will, they find a way to crack down on copyright piracy. He pointed to news reports that found a scarcity of counterfeit Olympics-logo goods there.

Article has more.

:rofl:

[kenny blankenship]

1. Not torture, not flaying animals alive, not slavery--these H'wood ignores

but failing to respect the artificial scarcity created by copyright on electronic media--this is what Hollywood finds intolerable, and it petitions Beijing to mend its ways on this and only this before the Olympics come to town.

It's a little early in the afternoon but...Here's to the death of Hollywood.