China pledged on Saturday to work together with other countries
to defend intellectual property rights (IPR), demonstrating again
its resolution in the crackdown on piracy.
The "Shanghai Initiative", passed in Shanghai by IPR protection
organizations of China, European Union, the United States, and many
other countries, called for intensified efforts in fighting
infringements of intellectual property rights.
The document, which was also signed by Canada, Australia,
France, and Germany at the China Forum on Criminal IPR Protection,
suggests measures including information exchanges, and joint
campaigns to uproot the production, storage, export and import, and
sales of pirated products.
The joint initiative also called for more exchanges and
cooperation in the judicial system against transnational
crimes.
The tracking of equipment that produces piracy should also be
intensified to reduce and prevent violation cases, the document
said.
Zheng Shaodong, assistant minister of public security,
considered the Shanghai Initiative a significant commitment made by
the Chinese public security forces, which fully reveals China's
resolution in the IPR protection.
The world community is facing a great challenge in the defense
of IPR, as the infringement cases are conducted in a more
professional way with careful organizations in the world
spectrum.
Statistics show that the trade volume of pirated products
accounts for 6 percent of the world's total trade turnover. More
than 10 percent of the medicines in the world market are
counterfeit, and the figure rises to 25 percent in some developing
countries. Even 2 percent of the accessories of planes are
fake.
Chinese police have uncovered over 6,700 IPR infringement cases
in the past five years, involving 3.5 billion yuan (US$437.5
million).
They have detained more than 9,300 suspects for intellectual
property rights violations, and broken a number of international
criminal networks.
Convened by the Ministry of Public Security and National
Protection of IPR Working Group Office, the forum focused on
organized and international IPR violations and better cooperation
between countries and between law enforcing departments and
industry sectors.
China has actively drawn up IPR-related laws and regulations to
improve the criminal law enforcement on IPR violations. The
IPR-related criminals will get three to seven years of imprisonment
and financial penalties in accordance with different types of
infringements.
Zheng said that Chinese police have been working with
international organizations to exchange information on IPR
violation, investigate IPR-related cases and provide legal
assistance to crack down on international rings.?
(Xinhua News Agency April 2, 2006)