China's specialized campaign to enforce intellectual property
rights laws has been extremely successful, government officials
said yesterday at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC)
Symposium on IPR in Xiamen, Fujian
Province.
Ma Enzhong, deputy secretary-general of the State Office of
Intellectual Property Protection, said that since last September,
nine criminal and administrative enforcement departments have been
cooperating in a nationwide crackdown on piracy, counterfeits, and
trademark and patent infringements.
"The campaign has been marked by considerable achievements," Ma
said.
In the past 12 months, industry and commerce departments?at
all levels have investigated and dealt with 24,189 trademark
infringement cases and imposed fines totaling 157 million yuan
(US$19.36 million), Ma said.
Copyright and cultural agencies have seized more than 167
million pirated products, destroyed 24 assembly lines for illegal
disc production and shut down more than 2,960 illegal printing
operations, he said.
Ma went on to say that patent offices have investigated and
dealt with 1,115 instances of patent infringements, and 153
instances of patent counterfeiting.
Customs authorities have investigated and dealt with 949 IPR
infringement cases of imported and exported goods with a value of
73 million yuan (US$9 million), he added.
Public security units have resolved 1,300 IPR infringement cases
involving merchandise valued at 1 billion yuan (US$123.30 million)
and have arrested 3,000 criminal suspects, he said.
"China has been putting great emphasis on IPR protection, which
is a major prerequisite to improving the country's investment
environment," Fu Ziying, assistant minister of commerce, said.
(China Daily September 8, 2005)