The Chinese authorities will step up the enforcement of intellectual property rights, a senior official promised yesterday.

Ma Lianyuan, vice-director of the State Intellectual Property Office, was speaking at a publicity event held in Beijing yesterday to mark World Intellectual Property Day.

The event took place in the capital's commercial hub in Wangfujing Street. Members of the public got the chance to question specialists from Beijing's patent, trademark and copyright administrations.

Ma said China's intellectual property rights system has basically met the standards required by the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), a key part of the World Trade Organization agreements.

Posters and bulletins on intellectual property rights were displayed along the street to help the public understand the need to protect such rights.

"China will shift from its previous focus on IPR legislation to law enforcement and supervision," said Ma.

Ma said his office will launch a large-scale campaign this year to inspect enterprises nationwide regarding patent protection and to teach them more about applying for patents.

At yesterday's event, the Beijing Intellectual Property Study Society called on specialists to open free patent, trademark and copyright consulting services for small and medium-sized businesses.

Following China's official accession to the WTO last December, the State Intellectual Property Office has started to accept registration applications from foreigners for layout designs of integrated circuits.

Statistics from the office indicate that the Chinese mainland has received 1.37 million domestic and overseas patent applications since it implemented the Patent Law in 1985. A total of 231,367 - or 17 per cent - have come from foreign countries.

Last year, the top 10 countries to have applied for patents in China were Japan, the United States, Germany, South Korea, France, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Sweden, Britain and Italy.

Games' rights

The International Olympic Committee sent an open letter to the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games Organizing Committee, saying that the protection of Olympic-related intellectual property is vital to ensure the Games are a success.

Howard Stupp, director of the committee's legal affairs department, said his advice was also aimed at ordinary Chinese people who care about China's first Olympics.

Protective laws and regulations are already in place in Beijing, some of them having been formulated after the Chinese capital won the right on July 13 last year to host the Games.

China's General Administration of Customs and State Administration for Industry and Commerce have been asked to be on the alert around the nation to prevent any unauthorized use of Olympic-related intellectual property.

An official from the Beijing Olympic organizing committee's legal affairs department said: "Until now, our efforts have been effective as we have yet to launch a single lawsuit to protect the property."