Film piracy costs US$2.7b: MPA

Piracy in China cost the film industry US$2.7 billion of potential revenue in 2005, the Motion Picture Association (MPA), an industry lobby group formed by major Hollywood film producers, said. "It's not just Hollywood films," MPA Vice President Michael Ellis told journalists in Beijing. "Everybody is getting ripped off." According to a study commissioned by the group, 55% of the loss was shouldered by the local Chinese film industry, and just 21% by MPA member companies, AFP reported. Ellis said MPA losses would be bigger, but local rules restricted foreign film producers to 20 revenue-sharing films a year. Ellis said independent research showed the movie piracy rate is 93%, but the government has shown a recognition of the problem and the court system has developed. "I think that there is a good rule of law here and the legislation by and large is very good."