China opened hot lines in 12 provinces and municipalities on Wednesday to receive complaints of intellectual property rights (IPR) infringements, the latest in a series of government efforts to enhance IPR protection.

The 12 provinces and municipalities include Beijing, Heilongjiang, Gansu and Jiangsu. Other parts of the country will also open hotlines, all using the number 12312, by the end of this year, according to an official with the State Office of Intellectual Property Protection.

"As IPR protection involves many departments, it often confuses people as to which department they should turn to," said Liu Zhengang, head of the Beijing municipal office of intellectual property protection, at the inauguration ceremony of the 12312 hotline in Beijing.

"The hotline will make that simpler," he said.

He said IPR complaint centers will verify the authenticity of information from the hotline, sort out the cases and convey them to relevant departments. These departments are supposed to handle these cases and report the results back to the complaint centers.

The complaint centers will write reports on the handling of these cases and submit them to higher authorities.

Source: Xinhua