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PayPal shuts down accounts of online retailers selling pirated DVDs.

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PayPal is cracking down on Chinese retailers who are using the company’s online pay service to sell bootleg DVDs.

The San Jose-based company has closed the accounts of dozens of merchants making unauthorized use of PayPal’s global payment service in violation of the company’s policy, according to a statement from the Motion Picture Assn. of America’s Asia Pacific Office in Singapore.

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The action followed a joint operation with the MPAA’s Asia Pacific Office that investigated the activities of various merchants, most based in China, which marketed and shipped counterfeit DVDs and Blu-ray discs 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 pay platform,’’ said Julie Bainbridge, PayPal’s head of global brand risk management.

‘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 of the MPAA’s Asia Pacific Office.

-- Richard Verrier

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