CCTV.com Heads Up Olympic Copyright Squad

China Central TV's (CCTV) CCTV.com partnered with nine companies including Sohu, Sina, NetEase, Tencent, Ku6.com and Shanghai Media Group (SMG) to establish an "Olympic Copyright Protection Squad" on August 5. During the Olympics, the partners plan to establish a hotline to report copyright violations and designate space on their sites to announce copyright violators and their punishments.
CCTV.com sued Shenzhen-based download accelerator and peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing software company Xunlei (Thunder) for copyright infringement in Shanghai's Second Intermediate Court on August 4. Xunlei broadcast CCTV footage of the Olympics torch relay and Spring Festival Gala without permission. CCTV.com general manager Wang Wenbin said that the lawsuit is a warning to prevent similar violations during the Olympics. CCTV.com began collecting video evidence for the lawsuit in early 2008.

Lisa