China has punished 14 disc-copying companies around the country, reports the State Administration of Press and Publications.

In a campaign which started in January, the administration checked 48 companies which were running a disc-copying business in China's 18 provinces, regions and municipalities and found 14 were operating illegally.

Six of the companies have been stripped of their business licenses and eight have been told to stop production and make adjustments.

"We are to blame for weak intellectual protection rights awareness," said a manager of Three Gorges Disc Development Co. Ltd. in Chongqing Municipality, Southwest China, who refused to be named. His company has lost its license after illegally duplicating nearly 6,000 discs involving three audio and video products since 2004.

In the past decade, China's disc-copying industry has witnessed a great leap, containing about one fifth of the world's total of copied discs, and its copying technology has also improved, said an official with the administration.

The Chinese government has underlined its resolution to crack down on piracy by launching various campaigns to fight against IPR infringements, as well as upgrading its innovation capacity to seek development.

In 2005, Chinese courts prosecuted over 3,500 criminal cases concerning intellectual property, up 28 percent from the year before, and punished 5,336 people, up 30 percent from the previous year, said the Supreme People's Court.

Source: Xinhua