China has rolled out concrete measures to reinforce its fight against the infringement of intellectual property (IPR).

The Ministry of Commerce announced on Friday measures to root out production and sale of fake goods at home and abroad. The measures include blocking and smashing the activities in sales of counterfeit goods overseas; inspections and strictly punishing those found selling fake goods through television, telephone and the Internet; and managing national commerce retailers and standardizing all procedures from stocking and checking to logistics and sales.

The announcement came after the State Council's decision to launch a six-month campaign against piracy from October to March. It also came just days before the annual China-U.S. Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade meeting scheduled in mid-December in Washington. The IPR is expected to be one of the issues to be discussed at the meeting.

The ministry is also encouraging the use of legitimate software by local authorities, according to Saturday's China Daily.

The software-piracy rate in China has been decreasing. The world's foremost software advocate, The Business Software Alliance, estimates that 79 percent of all computer software installed last year in China was pirated, down from 86 percent in 2005.