Experts on intellectual property rights called on Monday for strengthening public education campaigns and legal enforcement, which they say will help China crack down on violators.

The call came as China stepped up efforts to upgrade its legal networks and better protect innovators at home and abroad.

Amendments to the laws on copyrights and trademarks are expected to come into effect in coming months.

But innovators are unlikely to seek legal remedies because the fines meted out are small and the cost of litigation is high, said Yang Lixin, a senior official of the Supreme People's Procuratorate.

"In the United States, patent infringers are required to pay double or more money on their infringements. If China puts severe fines on it, it will help curb infringements while strengthening public confidence about legal action," Yang said.

Still, the nation should not go farther than requirements stipulated by the WTO, said Jiang Zhipei, a senior expert for the Supreme People's Court.

"The measures should only be adopted in cases which involved very severe infringements or attempted pillaging," Jiang said. "China should have a clear mind that the legal efforts should not step out of WTO rules."

Since 1991, courts at all levels have established special intellectual property right tribunals to handle such cases.

In 1999, Chinese courts dealt with 4,282 cases involving intellectual property rights, nearly tripling the number from 1990. The annual growth rate in the number of cases was 12.5 percent, reflecting budding public awareness of the issue.

But Zhou Lin, deputy director of the Centre for Intellectual Property under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said Chinese people are still relaxed about the issue.

"Many people have little idea that intellectual property rights are just like a TV, a VCD and a house, that they are owned by somebody, and if you want to use it, you should ask the owner first," Zhou said.

Zhou said enhancing public awareness is pressing as China has signed up as a member of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which was ratified by the National People's Congress, China's top legislature, in February.

"To protect intellectual property rights will contribute to the upgrading of human rights in the future," Zhou said.

(China Daily 05/02/2001)