The Supreme People's Court announced on February 3 that Chinese courts tried and concluded a total of 8,832 civil intellectual property (IPR) violation cases in 2004,up 46.82 percent from the previous year.

The number of copyright, patent and trademark violation cases rose significantly last year. In 2004, Chinese courts received 4,264 cases relating to copyright protection, up 70.99 percent from the previous year.

In December 2004, the Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Procuratorate jointly promulgated a judicial interpretation of the Criminal Law application on IPR violations, aiming to intensify efforts to crack down on IPR violations.

In 2004, 653 people, involved in 932 IPR violation cases, were sentenced to criminal punishment. Another 1,961 people were given sentences for producing and selling fake products, most of which were related to IPR violation, up 16.45 from the previous year.

Source: Xinhua