Government agents in China have seized 2 million pirate compact discs, destroyed 486 underground factories making fake goods and destroyed 667,000 counterfeit articles, officials said yesterday.

Offenders involved in selling pirated CDs and software have been fined 30 million yuan (US$3.6 million).

The government sent 13,000 employees to check 8,000 CD and software dealers nationwide in the first six months of the crackdown, Zhang Zhigang, a vice minister of commerce, told a press conference in Beijing.

The government also began a sting operation combating other counterfeit goods about a month ago.

Nearly 120,000 government agents checked 254,000 businesses.

In addition to destroying the underground factories and counterfeit goods, the agents found 2,162 cases of trademark violations and confiscated 1.66 million fake trademarks.

They charged two people with intellectual property crime.

In Beijing, city authorities have closed several markets renowned for fakes.

They include the popular "Silk Street" tourist shopping area where fake Louis Vuitton, Prada, Chanel and Burberry bags and other accessories are commonplace.

Authorities also shut 40 stalls at Beijing's Hongqiao Market and closed the Xiushui Market, which is near the US Embassy and attracts both local and foreign buyers who want to own branded goods at unreasonably low prices.

Li Dongsheng, vice minister of the General Administration of Industry and Commerce, said fakes will be eradicated when the areas reopen.

Li said Beijing law-enforcement agencies have banned famous world brands from being sold at free markets in the city.

Regardless of providing genuine goods or counterfeits, market vendors who sell those brands might face criminal charges, Li said.

At the request of the brand holders, the authorities issued the ban, with a promise from the brand holders that they will not provide genuine goods to places other than authorized chain stores, Li said.

"If you really want to buy those luxuries in Beijing, you need to go to the chain stores," he said.

By the end of last month, local administrations for industry and commerce had posted 982 announcements at billboards in the city's 168 markets which sell clothes, shoes and accessories, Li said.

He asked people not to buy goods with those brands at markets.

He also encouraged them to report violations to the state administration via its telephone hot line, 12315.

Zhang rejected two cases raised by US trade officials this year, a General Motors complaint about alleged copying of its Chevrolet Spark model, and the withdrawal of the Chinese patent on Pfizer Inc's Viagra, the world's top-selling impotence drug.

General Motors, the world's biggest automaker, didn't seek trademark protection in China for the disputed model, a version of the Spark made by the company's South Korean unit GM Daewoo Auto & Technology Co, Zhang said.

The Detroit-based automaker accused state-owned Chery Automobile Co of copying the design.

"According to the evidence, it is difficult to prove that Chery has violated General Motors' trademark or patent," Zhang said. "The case is still being reviewed."

In the Viagra case, the technical aspects of Viagra's patent in China were insufficient, Zhang said.

New York-based Pfizer plans to appeal the State Intellectual Property Office's July decision to withdraw the patent.

The government will bring in tougher penalties for intellectual property offenders by the end of this year, Zhang said.

Source: Bloomberg/Xinhua