China handles 1,710 IPR violations over past four years

Chinese courts handled a total of 1,710 cases related to intellectual property right (IPR) violation cases from 2000 to November 2004, up 56.42 percent from the same period of last three years.

The figure was released from a press conference which was jointly held by the Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Procuratorate in Beijing Tuesday.

From January 2002 to October 2004, China's courts had concluded 2,171 cases related to produce and sell fake products, most of whom also involved IPR infringements, according to the statistics provided by the Supreme People's Court.

"The figure demonstrated that China had strengthened efforts to crack down on IPR infringement issues, since it entered the World Trade Organization (WTO)," said Cao Jianming, vice-president of the Supreme People's Court.

Zhang Geng, deputy Procurator-General of the Supreme People's Procuratorate (SPP) said the SPP also intensified crack down on IPR violations.

From 2000 to November 2004, all levels of People's Procuratorates approved 2,462 arrests in 1,539 criminal cases involving infringing on intellectual property, and 2,491 persons in 1,500 cases were initiated public prosecution.