We frequently post on non-legal solutions to protecting one's IP in China. We will have to add this to the repertoire. Companies interested in proctecting their entertainment IP should release their movies/music/games during the World Cup.

I like this admission on the china daily report:

"Currently, no evidence can prove the news is reliable"

pretty much sums up this 'exclusive' and more

It seems the China Daily has realized that a breaking page is better than this kind of breaking news. In other words, the article has been pulled. It's becoming a strange world when even the China Daily doesn't trust it's own news.

Nice catch, CS. The China Daily moves in mysterious ways, however. It may have deleted the first breaking story, but there's still this: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/sports/2006-07/08/content_636859.htm - meaning that someone made a conscious decision the following day that the story was still noteworthy...

You win:)

Finally able to read this masterpiece.

One noteworthy thing:

The Photo Caption Editor (Is this a job??) has done a nice copy paste job.

another factor for no new blockbusters in pirated DVD stores is that the last big pic to actually open in theaters here was over a month ago -- that was Ice Age 2...

for this you can thank the annual summer hollywood movie blackout -- no foreign films imported, purportedly to give domestic product a fighting chance.

today is the last day, and tomorrow Superman opens in china. i guess we can expect pirated fare to be available shortly.

interesting how the black out coincided with the world cup tho'...

by the way, the Sino-British coproduction mentioned is THE WHITE COUNTESS, not THE WHITE DUCHESS -- it has been out on the black market for quite a long time now, it wouldn't be much of a market indicator...

did anyone see the item, several weeks back, about theaters in shanghai offering free World Cup screenings (on a big cinema screen, in air conditioned cinema comfort) to people who bought tickets for movies?

it was a promotion to boost flagging ticket sales. the ticket prices were discounted a good 20% below the usual movie price. i'd be curious to know how many people actually bothered to watch the films...

since it was 'free with purchase', the exhibitors argued that it was a fair use TV feed, not a commercial feed for which they should pay -- similar to what bars and restaurants do, right?

clever...

Has anybody seen the "The White Countess"? How did the cast get tricked into that? As for the rest of the stuff on the report, is anybody who frequents this site really still surprised at the goings on at Huixin Dongjie?

Brazilian Footbal Team selling out to France is a popular subject of chain emails here in Brazil since 1998, when we lost the World Cup to the Le Blues.
But really, how can serious media buy this story considering that the players already ean a lot of money (the Brazilian players altogether were valued at more than US$ 1 bi).
They lost simply because of too much self-confidence and lack of action by the coach.