China's Film Copyright Association has announced plans to collect copyright royalties from Internet cafes and public transport companies for their screenings of movies.

But skeptical locals wonder how - and whether - the plan will work.

Starting January 1, Shanghai, Beijing, Jiangsu Province and several other provinces will be the first areas where the charges are collected.

Internet cafes are to pay 7.5 percent of each computer's hourly charge, multiplied by the number of computers, every day, according to the regulation approved by the National Copyright Administration.

Every long-distance bus will be charged from 365 to 500 yuan (US$55-75) on a yearly basis, regardless of how many movies it screens.

Airplanes, trains and ships will also be charged based on the frequency of operations and the movies screened. The fees can be up to 50,000 yuan for one plane, Beijing Morning Post reported yesterday.

So far, however, most local long-distance coach companies, which are to be charged for screening movies during bus rides, have received no notice of the plans.

Zhang Yongbin, an official with Shanghai Long-Distance Bus Station, questioned how the authorities would judge what films had been screened, saying "it's hard to supervise."

He said there's no proper way to know whether a long-distance coach screens a movie, or whether the movie played is a Chinese one.

Liu Deqing, an official with Shanghai J.Y-Bashi Passenger Transport Group, said their buses often play their own videos, and they might consider not screening the charged films.

The trial is in an attempt to fight copyright infringement, said Zhu Yongde, director-general of China Film Copyright Association, at a film forum on Wednesday.

Zhu said the association plans to hire 20 to 30 local people with "connections and contacts" in each province or city to collect the copyright royalties. All money collected will be wired to a Beijing bank account. Internet cafes and bus companies will receive temporary receipts upon the payment. The association will offer official invoices in exchange for the receipts, Zhu said.

Internet cafes that ignore the law and deliberately refuse to pay the charges may face civil lawsuits filed by the association, Zhu added.

CFCA, which comes under the NCA and the General Administration of Press and Publication, is a non-profit organization.

• transport [træn´spɔ:t] n.运输；流放 (初中英语单词)
• province [´prɔvins] n.省；领域；范围 (初中英语单词)
• charge [tʃɑ:dʒ] v.收费；冲锋 n.费用 (初中英语单词)
• administration [əd,minis´treiʃən] n.管理(事务等)；经营 (初中英语单词)
• yesterday [´jestədi] n.&ad.昨天；前不久 (初中英语单词)
• wednesday [´wenzdi] n.星期三 (初中英语单词)
• account [ə´kaunt] vi.说明 vt.认为 n.帐目 (初中英语单词)
• payment [´peimənt] n.支付；报酬；报偿 (初中英语单词)
• regulation [,regju´leiʃən] n.规则；章程；法规 (高中英语单词)
• regardless [ri´gɑ:dləs] a.不留心的；不关心的 (高中英语单词)
• saying [´seiŋ, ´sei-iŋ] n.言语；言论；格言 (高中英语单词)
• temporary [´tempərəri] a.暂时的 n.临时工 (高中英语单词)
• ignore [ig´nɔ:] vt.忽视，不理，不顾 (高中英语单词)
• deliberately [di´libərətli] ad.故意地；慎重地 (高中英语单词)
• publication [,pʌbli´keiʃən] n.发表；公布；发行 (高中英语单词)
• copyright [´kɔpirait] n.版权；著作权 (英语四级单词)
• yearly [´jiəli] a.每年的；一年间的 (英语四级单词)
• frequency [´fri:kwənsi] n.频繁；周率 (英语六级单词)