Studios Win in Battle Against Piracy in China

Three Hollywood studios have won compensation payments in a battle against film piracy in China, a small victory in a market criticized for lax policing of intellectual property rights.

A Shanghai court ruled in favor of Walt Disney Co., Vivendi Universal and News Corp.'s 20th Century Fox, which took the landmark legal action against local companies for pirating movies.

The China Daily quoted a court official as saying Shanghai Hezhong Enterprise Development Co. and Shanghai Yatu Film Culture Broadcasting Co. were each ordered to pay $12,202 to Fox, $4,228 to Disney and $4,228 to Universal for pirating movies including "Moulin Rouge" and "Jurassic Park III." The firms also must issue public apologies to the studios.