Cinemas in the territory have closed and radio stations took music off the air as the entertainment industry tried to highlight the growing problem of piracy.

Hong Kong Correspondent Jill McGivering: "Copyright infringement is blatant"

Executives say they are trying to show the listening and viewing public what they will miss if piracy is allowed to carry on depriving the industry of revenue.

Unlicensed copying and distribution of films and music is reported to be costing the media industry hundreds of millions of dollars in lost income.

Cinemas in the territory have seen a 60% drop in box office receipts in recent years.

BBC Hong Kong Correspondent Jill McGivering says piracy is rife with many films being available illegally before they are screened in Hong Kong cinemas.

Jackie Chan, whose career spans more than 30 years in Hollywood and the Hong Kong movie industry, joined many other of the territory's top stars demonstrating in central Hong Kong.

The Chief Executive of Hong Kong's motion picture association, Woody Tsung, said piracy was destroying the territory's film industry.

Pirates raided

The protest march has been organised by the Anti-Piracy Alliance, a group representing Hong Kong's film, theatre, music, software and broadcast industries, their distributors and retailers.

They are appealing to the public not to buy pirated goods, and urging the government to put more police resources into tackling the problem.

Hong Kong customs authorities raided more than 70 shops and street stalls selling pirated material on Tuesday.

They arrested 37 people and seized pirated goods worth about HK$5.3 million (US$700,000).

Rigo Jesu, managing director of Intercontinental Film Distributors, said: "Copyright piracy steals away legitimate earnings and tax dollars. It damages our reputation as a society that respects international law and it really discourages investment in the information industry.

"If copyright piracy is not controlled, there will be no more creativity in Hong Kong in motion pictures, in music, in computers."