China takes steps to protect intellectual property rights

China has enacted new programs to protect intellectual property rights (IPR) since the 17th Sino-U.S. Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade in 2006. Below are some of these steps:

-- China is working on national strategic IPR protection guidelines and more than 20 departments already have detailed medium- and long-term plans.

-- Action Plans on IPR Protection were drafted in 2006 and 2007, laying out 438 specific tasks involving legislation, law enforcement, special drives, international cooperation and public education. The 162 plans for 2006 were finished and 80 percent of the 276 measures for 2007 have been completed to date.

-- As part of a crackdown on pirated software, the government ordered municipal and local authorities to buy computers with pre-installed legitimate software and required all domestic and imported computers to be sold with legitimate software pre-installed. Sales of legitimate software in China have benefited as a result. Microsoft, for instance, projected in Aprila 20-percent rise for the year's sales in China due to a combination of government anti-piracy efforts and new products. And China's software industry registered a 23.1 percent rise in sales from 390 billion yuan (52.77 billion U.S. dollars) in 2005 to 480 billion yuan in 2006.

-- In 2007, China's supreme court issued new judicial interpretations, which lowered the threshold for prosecution of those making or selling counterfeit products. An interpretation issued in April stipulates that anyone who manufactures 500 or more counterfeit copies (discs) of computer software, music, movies, TV series or other audio-video products can be prosecuted and imprisoned for up to seven years.

-- Special courts for IPR cases were established across the country, including 172 courts of appeal and 140 collegial panels. The Office of the National Working Group for IPR Protection set up a national service network in 50 cities to handle IPR complaints.

-- The government has rolled out advocacy campaigns to raise public awareness of IPR laws, particularly among local officials and corporate officials.

-- China has consistently worked against piracy, destroying pirated books and DVDs, cracking down on peddlers selling counterfeit products and raiding factories churning out fakes. Law enforcement agencies confiscated 49 million illegal books, periodicals and audio-visual products in the first four months of this year during a crackdown on pornographic and illegal publications.

-- Statistics from the Supreme People's Court indicate that Chinese courts handled 769 IPR cases in 2006 and prosecuted 1,212 offenders, up 52.2 percent and 62.21 percent, respectively, from 2005.