James Delahunty
15 Feb 2008 19:52
The Motion Picture Association (MPA) has targeted Shenzhen Xunlei Networking Technology (Xunlei), a popular peer-to-peer file sharing service operator in China with copyright infringement lawsuits. The action was taken by all six members of the MPA. The companies are seeking damages and legal fees in excess of 7 million renminbi (US$975,000) in the cases, as well as a public admission of copyright infringement.
The MPA also expects that Xunlei pledge to refrain from future copyright infringement activities. The company offers downloads of the popular Thunder5 and WebThunder file sharing software from its official web site. The movie studios claim the software is responsible for the distribution and sharing of hundreds of movie titles including Spiderman 3, War of the Worlds and Miami Vice, without authorization.
The plaintiffs include Twentieth Century Fox International, Sony Pictures, Paramount Pictures, Buena Vista International, Universal International Films and Warner Bros. Pictures International. Last year, Internet search and services giant Google made a $5 million investment in Xunlei in exchange for a 4% stake in the company.
The civil complaints were filed in the Shanghai Pudong District Court.