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Who would have thought that there could come a time, when a company would start stealing from itself. Apparently this is the case with Disney whose hit movie Wall-E is available on a pirated site in China, 56.com – which is actually funded by Disney’s Streamboat Ventures. According to WSJ:

John Ball, founder and managing director of Steamboat, says the firm was aware that pirated content was a potential issue when it made its investment in 56.com, but thought it could promote legal content on the site and work toward eliminating pirated material. One of the company’s investment strategies "is to help the legitimate evolution of digital content online," he says .

Eric Garland, chief executive of Big Champagne LLC, a firm that consults for copyright owners on piracy issues, says Disney’s involvement in such a site is "ironic" and "shocking." But he added that Mr. Ball’s rationale has some merit, as simply shutting down the site would drive infringing users to other sites.