Illegal broadcasting of the Beijing Olympic Games will be the top target of a four-month-long crackdown against copyright piracy, the State Copyright Administration said Thursday.
"As the Beijing Olympics draws near, we are expecting a large number of illegal broadcasts of the Games," Xu Chao, deputy director with the administration's copyright department, told a press conference in Beijing.
All lawful rights and interests of owners of Olympic symbols will be fully protected according to the provisions of the Olympic Charter, agreements between the Chinese government and the International Olympic Committee, and the Copyright Law and Regulations on the Protection of Olympic Symbols.
"Any broadcast without authorization will be severely dealt with," Xu said.
The Beijing Olympic Games broadcasting rights encompass TV and radio stations, and the new media, Web and on-demand transmission through the Internet and mobile phones.
TV broadcast and cable rights for the mainland and the Macao special administrative region have been awarded to China Central Television, and the new media to cctv.com, Xu said.
The administration, together with the ministries of public security, industry, and information, are participating in the nation's fourth special campaign against Internet copyright piracy. The campaign will last until Oct 15.
It will crack down on all illegal websites and violators will be punished. Music content, movies, software, books and games on websites will also come under close watch.
"The campaign will especially look at video websites, as the number of such sites are increasingly infringing copyright laws," Xu said.
Illegal broadcasts by the new media, including mobile phones, will be monitored too.
Violators will be ordered to delete their unlicensed content, given warnings, fines or have their servers shut down.
The administration will soon publicize a number of major copyright infringement cases detected on websites since the beginning of the year.
It will also publish a guide book on intellectual property rights protection for Olympic symbols, Xu said.
If a local government or a company plans to hold an event with slogans such as "May the Beijing Olympics be a great success", it needs to get authorization from Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad.
Olympic symbols include the five Olympic rings, Olympic flag, Olympic motto, Olympic emblem and the Olympic anthem of the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
Also included are the emblem and symbols of the Chinese Olympic Committee and Beijing 2008 Olympic Games Bid Committee, the mascots, slogan of the 29th Olympic Games, "Beijing 2008", the 29th Olympic Games, and its abbreviations.
