Operation Big Broom to sweep Asian pirates

BEIJING, Dec. 14 (UPI) -- Motion Picture Association of America Chief Dan Glickman has announced "Operation Big Broom," an aggressive Asian-Pacific anti-piracy campaign.

Glickman told the CineAsia convention in Beijing Tuesday that "Operation Big Broom" will sweep black market centers in Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Pakistan, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand.

"By cracking down on the availability of illegally pirated movies in retail shops and markets and from street vendors during the important New Year holiday season, when many new movies are released, the operation is designed to protect sales of cinema tickets and legitimate home video products such as DVDs, VCDs and VHS videotapes," Glickman said. "Previous operations have yielded seizures of millions of pirated optical discs, and hundreds of arrests."

Asian-Pacific piracy of copyrighted material costs the film industry an annual $896 million, the MPAA said in a news release.