A man in east China's Jiangsu Province got three years in prison with a reprieve, on charges of copyright infringement for selling copies of foreign films he had translated himself on the Internet, local authorities said Friday.

Liu was punished by Jiangyin's intellectual property tribunal, according to a statement from the city's publicity department.

Liu received three year prison term with a three-and-a-half-year reprieve, plus a fine of 10,000 yuan (1,630 U.S.dollars) at his sentencing on Wednesday.

Liu, 30, an international economic law major who had been teaching himself English, French, Japanese, Germany, Russian and Korean to better view foreign films. He translated for more than 400 and started selling copies on Taobao.com in 2007, each sold for 2.9 yuan (50 U.S.cents).

Local police arrested Liu and confiscated 3,600 DVDs at his apartment in April 2013.

A circular jointly published by the Supreme People's Court, the Supreme People's Procuratorate, and the Ministry of Public Security in 2011, states that anyone who earns more than 50,000 yuan (8,150 U.S. dollars) from online piracy faces the maximum three-year prison term.

The circular defines online piracy as the dissemination of written work, music, motion pictures, television programs or other visual work, computer software or other works through the Internet for the purpose of making a profit and without permission of the copyright owner.

(Source: Xinhua)