PayPal announced that it has permanently closed the accounts of dozens of merchants that allegedly specialize in selling illegal counterfeit DVDs and Blu-ray Discs.
For more information visit: www.mpa-i.org ; www.paypal.com.sg
Unedited press release follows:
Joint MPA-PayPal Operation Strikes Blow to Online Sellers of Counterfeit DVDs and Blu-ray Discs
Dozens of Violating Accounts Immediately Shutdown Following Operation
SINGAPORE, June 22, 2011 — On June 22, 2011, PayPal permanently closed the accounts of dozens of merchants making unauthorized use of PayPal’s global payment platform to conduct financial transactions that violate the company’s acceptable use policy. The action followed a joint operation with the Motion Picture Association (MPA) Asia Pacific, which was designed to identify merchants specializing in the sale of illegal counterfeit DVDs and Blu-ray Discs.
The operation took place over a three-month period and involved the close cooperation of investigators from the MPA Asia Pacific and PayPal’s Brand Risk Management department. The investigation uncovered that the majority of these merchants are based in mainland China, and that they market and ship their products directly to retail and wholesale customers worldwide.
“Our action today sends a strong message to all criminals that PayPal does not tolerate such illegal activity on our global payment platform and we work closely with industry organizations, like the MPA, who alerted us to these intellectual property right violations,” said Julie Bainbridge, PayPal’s head of Global Brand Risk Management.” This operation also sends a reassuring signal to our users that their PayPal purchases are more trustworthy and secure. While the vast majority of business conducted on our platform is legitimate, we will investigate any and all reported violations of our acceptable use policy.”
“We are very pleased that this joint operation has resulted in the immediate shutdown of dozens of accounts belonging to copyright infringers, many of whom have been exploiting legitimate platforms for years to sell counterfeit material worldwide,” said Mike Ellis, President and Managing Director, MPA Asia Pacific. “We also commend PayPal for taking decisive action against these illegal activities on its global payment platform. Through this operation, PayPal has once again shown itself to be a consistent and reliable partner in the fight against copyright theft.”
PayPal prohibits the sale of items that infringe or violate any copyright, trademark, right of publicity or privacy or any other proprietary rights under the laws of any jurisdiction as part of its acceptable use policy. PayPal’s acceptable use policy is found at https://cms.paypal.com/AUP.
PayPal’s Brand Risk Management team regularly works with merchants to improve their compliance controls to actively detect and take down violations as part of a robust anti-counterfeit program which also includes a policy and process for rights owners to submit infringement claims. Rights owners are provided with an email address or PDF form to report their findings. They can access this information on the live site through https://cms.paypal.com/InfringementReport.
Outside of the infringement report process, any PayPal user who has a concern about counterfeit goods being sold is encouraged to report their findings to aupviolations@paypal.com. The information is reviewed internally by PayPal’s operations team within 24 hours of being reported.
About the MPA
The Motion Picture Association (MPA) and Motion Picture Association International (MPA-I) represent the interests of major motion picture companies in the global marketplace. To do so, it promotes and protects its member companies’ intellectual property rights and conducts public awareness programs to highlight to movie fans around the world the importance of content protection. These activities have helped to transform entire markets benefiting film industries in each country including foreign and local filmmakers alike.
The organizations’ worldwide operations are directed from its headquarters in Los Angeles, California and overseen in the Asia Pacific by a team based in Singapore. Its member companies include: Paramount Pictures Corporation; Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc.; Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation; Universal City Studios LLLP; Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures; and Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. For more information about the MPA, please visit www.mpa-i.org.
About PayPal
PayPal is the faster, safer way to pay and get paid online. The service allows members to send payments without sharing financial information, with the flexibility to pay using their account balances, bank accounts (where available), debit cards and credit cards in various markets. PayPal is an eBay company and enables global e-commerce with more than 94 million active accounts in 190 markets and 25 currencies around the world. The company’s open payment platform, PayPal X, allows developers to build innovative payment applications on multiple platforms and devices. More information about the company can be found at http://www.paypal.com.sg.
PayPal is headquartered in San Jose, California and its international headquarters is located in Singapore.