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Beijing admits IPR difficulties

China admitted yesterday that intellectual property rights (IPR) infringement is "very serious" in some sectors of its economy but said it faced a difficult task trying to improve IPR protection.

"We only have over 20 years history in IPR protection so many people still don't understand the concept of IPR," Zhang Qin, deputy commissioner of the State Intellectual Property Office, told a press conference.

"To enable those people to understand IPR in a very short time is a difficult task," Zhang said.

The acknowledgement came as China yesterday issued a white paper outlining "new progress" in copyright protection.

The document was released as China faces growing pressure from foreign countries to clean up rampant IPR theft ranging from pirated software and DVDs to fake copies of brandname clothes and shoes.

The white paper, issued by China's Cabinet, the State Council, said the past two decades have shown that the Chinese government has made "arduous efforts" to protect IPR but that there was still a long way to go.

"China has achieved a noticeably great improvement in IPR protection, which took the developed countries several decades and even over a century to attain," the paper said.

From 2000 to last year, police cracked 5,305 criminal cases of IPR infringement, involving nearly 2.2 billion yuan (US$265 million) and arrested 7,100 suspects, it said.

"However, the Chinese government is clearly aware that, in a large developing country with a population of 1.3 billion, relatively backward economy and a low level of science and technology, a complete IPR protection system cannot be established overnight," the document said.

"China has a long way to go in this regard," it added.

Last week, US Assistant Secretary of Commerce William Lash said "piracy is getting worse," during a visit to China.

Piracy of goods and a lack of enforcement by the government was costing US, European and Japanese manufacturers US$60 billion in annual losses, he said, calling for "more vigorous enforcement" and "more people going to jail."

Zhang said the biggest challenge was weak public awareness.

"On the one hand, they don't know how to respect others' IPR. On the other hand, they don't know how to protect themselves," Zhang said.

The Chinese government launched a one-year campaign late last year on IPR across the country. Authorities are focusing on the protection of trademarks, copyright and patent rights in the campaign that will last throughout this year.

Cases so far include production of fake Gillette razor blades, Adidas and Nike sports shoes, Cisco electronic products and bogus brandname Chinese liquor, Wuliangye.

State media reported earlier that China's courts handled 47 percent more IPR cases last year, compared to 2003.

Last year, courts handled 8,332 civil and 385 criminal IPR cases, punishing 528 people, the white paper said, without giving penalties.

China also lowered the threshhold for prosecutions last year. Individuals who sell more than 50,000 yuan (US$6,000) of counterfeit or pirated goods can now be imprisoned, and the worst offenders can be jailed for up to seven years.
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