China to block music websites without distribution rights
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2006-08-12 10:07
Nine Chinese websites are being fined and blocked from running illegal online
music services, according to China's Ministry of Culture recently.
The
ministry has completed a check of website operators in the past three months,
and has singled out nine websites that were illegally selling music for which
they didn't have the distribution rights or had not applied for authorization to
sell the music and conduct online commerce.
The ministry said that www.9sky.com and www.music.sogua.com were asked to pay
fines and stop their illegal services, as they didn't have approval to conduct
online commercial activities.
Two other websites, www.a8.com and www.music.tyfo.com, will be fined for
offering foreign music not officially approved by the ministry.
"They
should stop the service and submit their play list to the ministry for
approval." it said.
The ministry didn't elaborate on the other suspended
websites, saying their investigation is continuing.
Local cultural
departments also banned games containing obscenity, gambling and excessive
violence, including "BloodRayne 2" and "Obsure".
Companies publishing
"FreeStyle Street Basketball" and "Legends of Empire" were fined for selling
these online games without official approval.
Cultural authorities in
Sichuan, Hubei, Henan, Jiangsu provinces and Chongqing municipality closed down
29 private servers for illegally providing online games.
"It is
necessary to crack down on illegal Internet business to ensure better protection
of intellectual property rights," an official with the ministry told Xinhua.
Statistics show that China has 111 million Internet users, second only
to the United States.
Last year, China's online music sales totaled 3.6
billion yuan (450 million U.S. dollars) and sales of online games amounted to 2
billion yuan (250 million U.S. dollars).
(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)
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