The Beijing authorities pledged on Thursday to crack down on any infringement of intellectual property rights (IPR) related to the Olympics.

"Beijing will strengthen the clampdown on violations of Olympics-related patents, trademarks and copyrights at the major markets during the games," Liu Chengang, director of the municipal intellectual property bureau, told a press conference.

"Business involving pirated CDs and DVDs and counterfeit Olympic products will also be banned, especially unlicensed street vendors."

Liu said the bureau would establish a system to better protect all IPR and not just Olympics-related items.

During the Games, anyone can report IPR infringements via a hotline, 12312. Those convinced of infringement will face punishment under China's IPR protection laws and regulations.

The Beijing municipal government adopted a rule covering the protection of Olympic IPR in October 2001.

From 2004 to last September, administrations for industry and commerce at various levels in China had investigated 1,357 IPR infringement cases related to the Olympics involving 16.93 million yuan (2.4 U.S. million dollars).

(Xinhua News Agency May 9, 2008)