China's Supreme People's Court said the number of copyright violation cases passing through the country's legal system grew by 47% in 2004 on the year earlier. In total China's courts handled 8,832 such cases, Xinhua news agency reported, without giving details about what led to the increase. The Supreme Court said laws had been revised to crack down harder against widespread copyright violations. The news came as the Motion Picture Association (MPA), which represents the major international movie studios and distributors, announced that some three quarters of all the pirated DVDs and VCDs seized in Asia originated in China. The MPA says its members lose around US$900m annually due to piracy in Asia.
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