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Upon reading published reports that Chinese pirates have already succeeded in getting illicit copies of Spider-Man 3 into Beijing's black market, Sony's ever-vigilant PR team sprang into action to refute the story, letting China's Spidey fans know that the only way for them to enjoy the web-slinger's latest adventures—for the moment, at least—is to blow a month's salary on a family trip to the multiplex:

Statement from Sony Pictures Entertainment Regarding Reports of Spider-Man 3 Piracy

Contrary to news reports about stolen copies of Spider-Man 3 being sold illegally on the streets in China, our investigation in China has revealed no case of the film being pirated to date.

Similar hoaxes and false alarms have occurred prior to the release of other major films. We have uncovered examples of Spider-Man 2 being sold in Spider-Man 3 boxes in China. But thus far we can find no instance where Spider-Man 3 has appeared on DVD.

In addition, after an initial investigation of online sites worldwide, we have so far found no pirated copies of Spider-Man 3 on the Internet.

This incident underscores one of the problems with piracy - people who buy illegal movies often get ripped off themselves.

We trust that Sony's statement will serve as a wake-up call to the Chinese movie-piracy industry, inspiring them to exert some quality-control over their highly lucrative operations and get genuine pirated product into those black market DVD stalls, before their own market share can be eroded by internet pirates undercutting their already deeply discounted prices.