A Beijing man accused of exporting more than 6,000 DVDs of popular US movies in North America and Europe between 2006 and last year, has been charged with copyright infringement and could be sentenced to 14 months in prison and fined 80,000 yuan (€7,750), according to the local prosecutors.

Huang Yangsheng had been attracting buyers through two English websites he set up in December 2006. The sites were only accessible by overseas Internet users, who could post requests for DVDs. He also sold foreign buyers DVD players to run the discs, prosecutors said. Huang has allegedly illegally netted more than 100,000 yuan (€9,700) in profit by selling the DVD for 8.20 yuan (€0.80).

The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) tracked Huang's websites and reported his case to Chinese authorities in 2007. This is not the first time MPAA has accused Chinese individuals or video providers of piracy in recent years.

Chinese authorities have long faced difficulties dealing with piracy infringement despite a regulation in 2007 to ban major web portals from playing authorized content. Insiders said popular portals such as Youku.com, Ku6.com and 56.com have ditched the government restriction by hiring a group of private content providers to upload pirated content in the evening that replaces material deleted by authorities in the daytime.

American drama and Hollywood movies remain available on Chinese web portals for free viewing.

Story filed 05.12.09