The Los Angeles Times reports that Warner Brothers has tried something innovative to combat copyright infringement in China (Warner Gets a Jump on Film Pirates in China).

In a groundbreaking response to movie piracy, Warner Bros. Entertainment released its latest film on DVD in China the same day it debuted in U.S. theaters.

The goal for Warner is to battle rampant piracy in China by giving movie fans a legitimate alternative to bootlegs. But the boldness of Warner's action, which it took last week with no fanfare, was tempered by its choice of movie: "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants," a relatively low-budget film that the studio had not planned on releasing in Chinese theaters.

.... Hoping to make unauthorized copies of "Pants" less appealing outside China, Warner included no extra features on the DVD. It also added Mandarin subtitles that cannot be hidden, said Yotam Ben-Ami, an anti-piracy executive at the studio.

For example, I expect that Warner will recoup more of its "losses" due to infringement from early release of the DVD then from attempting to stop the infringement in the alleys of Shanghai. They'll probably also benefit from a little good will, given that the Chinese audience won't be permitted to see the film on the big screen at all.

Now if only we could get them to try something similar here in the US. Maverick Movie Distribution, anyone?