Jeboo.com sues US movie giants

Jeboo.com, one of the biggest Chinese online theatre Websites, has filed a suit against five major US movie companies as well as the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA).

Jeboo.com said the defendants' announcement on March 6 breached its honor and claimed a total of one million yuan (US$142,000) compensation at Beijing No.2 Intermediate People's Court. The court will hear the case in the near future, according to China News Service.

Just months ago, the defendants, which included Walt Disney, Columbia and Universal, sued Jeboo.com twice over piracy for allegedly airing US movies online without authorization, but settled out of court.

Jeboo.com reportedly paid for the so-called unauthorized movies found in two Shanghai Internet cafes, even though the videos in dispute were later confirmed not from Jeboo.com. Jeboo.com paid to show its sincerity and to end the dispute as quickly as possible, the report said.

However, the five US movie giants and the MPAA issued statements on MPAA's official Website saying Jeboo.com had stopped its infringement and apologized for its illegal activities. The address also quoted Frank Rittman, Vice President and Asia-Pacific Regional Counsel for MPAA as saying: "Services like Jeboo have profited from copyright infringement and undermined the development of legitimate online services."

Jeboo.com said the address was untruthful and violated the agreement signed by the two parties. Jeboo.com said the address severely harmed its honor and its image as the biggest Chinese authorized online media provider.

Only a month ago, MPAA sued Thunder — China's most widely used download tool — and its service provider Xunlei.com for its free download services.