A 23-year-old Japanese manhas been ordered to stop selling pirate tapes on the Yahoo! Auctions site andagreed to pay $6,400 in damages following a civil action by the MPAA and theJapan International Motion Picture Copyright Association (JIMCA).

Toshihiko Hiura from Fukuokawill also provide the MPAA and JIMCA with all materials infringing MPAA membercompany copyrights, in what is the MPAA's first success in Japan for itsnascent Tactics Against Auction Piracy programme (TAP).

According to MPAA figures,auction piracy accounted for more than one-fifth of all piracy online in 2003.Organisation officials say the US version of the TAP programme resulted in a50% drop in auction piracy within six months of launch.

"We can and will identifyInternet movie pirates, and we will vigorously defend our members' copyrightsto the full extent of the law," Mike Ellis, the MPAA's Asia-Pacific senior vicepresident and regional director, said in a statement.

The MPAA estimates that itsmember companies lose more than $896m each year in potential revene in theAsia-Pacifica region.