[Abstract] Leo Zheng, a partner of AllBright Law Offices and expert in entertainment law, was interviewed by the morning live news show (‘看东方’ )of China Dragon TV and a news program (‘新闻透视’ )of Shanghai TV On February 12, 2019 to give legal perspectives on the serious online piracy of new year movies. Zheng proposed that the regulation of China’s film market should be strengthened by taking various legal measures.

Leo Zheng, a partner of AllBright Law Offices and expert in entertainment law, was interviewed by the morning live news show (‘看东方’ )of China Dragon TV and a news program (‘新闻透视’ )of Shanghai TV On February 12, 2019 to give legal perspectives on the severe online piracy of 2019 new year movies, such as ‘Pegasus’, ‘The New King of Comedy’, ‘Peppa’s Chinese New Year’, ‘The Wandering Earth’, etc. Zheng put forward his opinions on how to improve the regulatory efficiency and to promote comprehensive governance of the market.

The distributor of "The Wandering Earth" disclosed that the spreading illegal high-definition links of the movie had been hit around 100 million times, which equals a box office revenue of about 4 billion yuan. This is a common issue faced by most other New Year movies released during the period.

Zheng pointed out that ‘the recent rampant piracy of new year movies has seriously infringed on the copyright owners’ interests, specifically the right to reproduction, the right to communicate works to the public over information networks and the right to network distribution. At present, the fight against piracy mainly relies on administrative penalties, while civil and criminal remedies are rarely adopted. It is critical to apply civil and criminal liabilities to pirates and effectively combine the three types of penalties so as to curb the deteriorating online piracy.