George Lucas, the creator of the Star Wars movie franchise, on Tuesday pleaded with the technology industry to create a partnership with the media sector to stamp out online piracy of content.

"I am begging for co-operation. There are unintended consequences of piracy. If piracy is not stopped, the rainforest of the entertainment business ecosystem will collapse. I am pleading for the creative people in this industry," he said.

Mr Lucas warned that piracy threatened to reduce the movie industry's revenues, forcing film corporations to concentrate on blockbusters, rather than also investing in smaller art movies. Pirated versions of his most recent Star Wars movie, Episode II: Attack of the Clones, were available as the film appeared in cinemas.

His appeal came during a presentation by Peter Chernin, president and chief operating officer of News Corporation, at Comdex, the computer show in Las Vegas. Mr Chernin argued the computer and media industries could benefit if digital content were protected so copyright holders received appropriate royalties.

His speech included film clips supporting his arguments by film makers such as Peter Jackson, maker of the Lord of the Rings series; Steven Spielberg, director of Saving Private Ryan; and M. Night Shyamalan, maker of The Sixth Sense.

Mr Chernin's speech was the first a top executive of a leading media group had given at Comdex. The IT industry and media companies have been in a battle over the issue. The media sector has argued that technology companies have encouraged the theft of their content, while the IT industry has blamed lack of content for the slow uptake of broadband in the US.

"The levels of rhetoric between the two sides have been pretty high, and we have both been making a great deal of noise in Washington," Mr Chernin admitted. "We just want our products paid for."

Mr Chernin argued that more things united the two industries than divided them. Piracy was costing the software industry $4bn a year. Piracy of songs had left the music industry fighting for its digital life. More than 1bn songs were being downloaded each month. Together, the two industries were losing about $8bn a year from piracy.

"Greater software problems have been solved. The issue of digital rights management is solvable, if there is a will for it to be done," Mr Chernin said.

The benefits would be more rapid uptake of broadband technology and home networking, and all the hardware, software and services dependent on that, he added. "We can restore to both our industries the explosive growth that is within our reach."