Government and Policy

China vows tougher punishments for copyright piracy

(Agencies)
Updated: 2011-01-11 14:31

BEIJING - China has arrested more than 4,000 people for violating intellectual property rights (IPR) since November and will enforce tougher punishments to combat the "rampant" problem, a senior government official said on Tuesday.

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Gao Feng, deputy director of the Ministry of Public Security's Economic Crimes Investigation Bureau, told a news conference that his agency had uncovered more than 2,000 cases since China launched a six-month campaign to beef up enforcement of intellectual property rights last November.

The financial value of the cases totalled 2.3 billion yuan ($348 million), Gao said, adding that the number of arrests, cases and financial value represent a tripling from the same period a year ago.

"On one hand they demonstrate the achievements we've made in cracking down on the violation of IPR, on the other hand it also indicates that IPR violation is still quite rampant and frequent," Gao said. "So we want to introduce heavier punishments."