BEIJING, Nov. 24-- The Motion Picture Association of America(MPAA) signed Tuesday an agreement with Internet technology provider BitTorrent Inc. to discourage illegal Internet movie downloads.

BitTorrent Founder and CEO Bram Cohen's technology allows Web sites to make large content files available online.

The MPAA was concerned that the technology is frequently used to illegally distribute movies and television shows.

As part of the agreement, Cohen confirmed BitTorrent's commitment to removing links that direct users to copies of pirated content owned by MPAA companies from its search engine at BitTorrent.com.

"We are glad that Bram Cohen and his company are working with us to limit access to infringing files on the BitTorrent.com Web site," said Dan Glickman, chief executive of the Motion Picture Association of America, which represents Hollywood's major studios and signed the deal with BitTorrent.

"They are leading the way for other companies by their example," Glickman added. Enditem

(Agencies)