China will launch a nationwide campaign to step up its
protection of intellectual property rights (IPR) in the coming
months.
The nation will intensify its crackdown against copyright
infringement to ensure a sound market order for domestic and
overseas investors, Vice-Premier Wu Yi pledged at a meeting of the
National Intellectual Property Protection Work Group in Beijing on
Thursday.
She said the Chinese Government has been attaching great
importance to IPR protection and has mapped out a series of related
laws and regulations that meet the nation's conditions and global
practice.
Both judicial and administrative means have been adopted to
crack down on the violation of intellectual property rights, Wu
said.
Meanwhile, China has actively contacted with foreign companies
in the fight against piracy in recent years and the partnership has
paid off, she said.
Law enforcement co-operation between China and other countries
and regions is also highlighted.
Thanks to the joint investigation conducted by police between
China and the United States, two US nationals were arrested on July
1 as leading suspects in a pirated DVD trafficking ring.
More than 210,000 copies of pirated DVDs and 200,000 yuan (US$
24,096) plus more than US$ 67,000 were also seized.
Wu said the nation has become more capable of pinpointing and
coping with copyright infringement.
Led by the State Copyright Bureau, the General Administration of
Customs and Ministry of Public Security, local government
departments have also made efforts in this regard.
Tianjin Customs in North China's Tianjin Municipality announced
on Wednesday that it had seized 10,000 copies of compact discs
suspected of violating the intellectual property right of Sony and
Phillips.
Beijing police seized more than 500,000 pirated DVDs or VCDs in
a crackdown campaign in April while its Guangzhou counterpart
confiscated more than 7 million in a similar campaign in late
March.
According to incomplete statistics, by the end of May, the
nation had confiscated more than 120 million copies of illegal
publications and ferreted out nine illegal production lines of
compact disks.
Copyright protection problems remain a concern in China, Wu
said.
The State Council will hold a special meeting to arrange the
coming campaign to fight against piracy, she said.
While clamping down on illegal activities involving copyright
infringements, China should also continue to improve its
intellectual property systems, experts say.
(China Daily August 21, 2004)