CHINESE INDIE FILM LOVER CONVICTED OF PIRACY

A Chinese man who learned six foreign languages so he could translate independent movies into Chinese and sell CD copies of them on the Internet has received a suspended three-year prison sentence after being convicted of copyright infringement, the English-language Shanghai Daily reported. The man — only his surname Liu was given in the article — said that he was motivated by his own love of overseas indie movies and wanted to introduce them domestically. Most reportedly were not available on the Chinese mainland. He began selling the discs, with Chinese subtitles that he provided, on Taobao, a kind of Chinese eBay, for the equivalent of 48 U.S. cents apiece. When he was arrested in April, police found nearly 3,600 discs at his home.