Hollywood welcomes China ruling

WASHINGTON – The World Trade Organization on Wednesday ruled that China violated free trade practices by restricting imports of movies, music and books, handing the U.S. a victory in a highly contentious issue that has long rankled Hollywood and other purveyors of media products.

U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk in Washington called the ruling a significant win for America’s creative industries.

A Hollywood industry group was cautiously optimistic.

“The Chinese system for distributing U.S. films to Chinese audiences is among the most restrictive and burdensome in the world,” said Dan Glickman, chairman and chief executive of the Motion Picture Association of America. The WTO’s “decision points a way forward.”

Trade experts were more circumspect, saying Chinese officials would likely appeal the ruling. In any case, there is little the Geneva-based trade body can do to force China to open market access to foreign media content. China has long restricted the number of foreign films in theaters to about 20 a year.

In its report, the WTO panel told the Chinese to stop requiring foreign media suppliers to go through a burdensome process of distributing goods through Chinese-owned companies. It also urged China to allow foreign companies to sell music over the Internet, a potentially huge market in a nation that has the largest number of Internet users and where piracy is rampant.