IPR complaint centres

Forty-four cities in China have established intellectual property rights complaint centres as of July 28 as the nation steps up efforts to crackdown on intellectual property violations.

People with IPR violation complaints can call the hotline at 12312. The complaint will be passed on to administrative departments. The hotline will also monitor the handling of complaints and collect statistics.

These centres will help discover counterfeits and other IPR violations more effectively, said Jiang Zengwei, vice minister of the Ministry of Commerce, adding it also shows China's determination to crack down on counterfeiting.

On July 28, 13 complaint centres came into experimental operation in Tianjin, Shanxi, Hunan and Guizhou. Officials say a total of 50 cities will have such centres by the end of August.

Web restrictions

China will adopt stricter regulations for foreign-funded websites, forbidding foreign investors to run websites under rented licenses.

According to the Ministry of Information Industry (MII), domestic telecommunication companies are not allowed to sell or lease licenses to foreign investors, which has been a common practice.

Five years ago, China issued regulations concerning foreign investors' telecom business operations and most foreign investors followed the procedures, says the MII.

But some unauthorized foreign investors continue to improperly offer services using shared or borrowed licenses, or Chinese partners' domain names and trademarks, it says.

China has 123 million netizens, the world's second biggest Internet user population after the United States. Foreign capital is trying to get its share of the business opportunities.

The ministry asked departments concerned to launch checks on websites before November 1. Websites operating with borrowed or rented licenses will have to reapply for their own license.

Piracy bust

Beijing police confiscated 7,000 pirated discs in July, following the central government's 100-day anti-piracy campaign which began this month.

Ten disc shops in the city were closed as they were caught selling over 100 films, music and software discs that violated copyright.

This is the first time that the Beijing municipal government has revoked sales permits of shops selling pirated products, the Beijing Daily reported.

Owners of the stores were barred from participating in the promotion, production, import, or wholesale and retail selling of discs for 10 years, the paper reported.

Meanwhile, shops that sold less than 100 pirated discs had discs and cash confiscated.

They were fined up to 50,000 yuan (US$6,200).

Over 140 audio-visual publishing houses in Beijing vowed that they would never publish any products that violated copyright, the paper reported.

Shanghai counterfeits

Shanghai closed down the Xiangyang Road Fashion and Gift Market in July, as part of the authorities efforts to protect intellectual property and clampdown on counterfeiting.

The market, Shanghai's most famous outdoor bazaar for knockoffs, was shut down in July. Previously, it had attracted buyers from home and abroad looking for deals on counterfeit goods bearing such world-famous brands as Louis Vuitton, Hermes, Chanel and Prada

The Chinese Government has achieved notable results in IPR protection, and the closure of Xiangyang Road Market is an example, says Jiang Zengwei, Vice Minister of Commerce.

The closure of the famous Xiangyang Road Market not only improves the investment environment but also effectively protects the legal rights and interests of IPR holders, Jiang says.

Shanghai investigated 993 pieces of trademark infringement cases with a total value of 44.36 million yuan (US$5.56 million).

Online gamers

China's online gaming industry will maintain a 35.5 per cent growth annually before 2010, with the government strengthening intellectual property protections and stepping up efforts to prevent the distribution of 'harmful content,' a government official says.

Long Xinmin, director of the General Administration of Press and Publication, made the comments at an industry conference.

At the end of 2005, China's online game users totalled 26.34 million, up 30.1 per cent year-on-year, and the industry posted 3.77 billion yuan (US$471.25 million) in revenue last year, up 52.6 per cent, Long says.

Long says China will punish companies that produce harmful content or violate intellectual property rules as many companies are still violating regulations, such as including porn and violence in games.

China has banned 39 electronic games and seized almost 200,000 game discs. It also banned 42 online games for harmful content.

China will launch a crackdown on online abuse of intellectual property rights in September, officials say, without giving further details.

R&D funding

The Chinese Government will introduce a package of policy incentives to increase public funding to bolster research and development in 103 innovation-driven companies.

A total of 15 state-owned enterprises, 77 private companies, and 11 research institute businesses are on the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) list for state support.

These companies are expected to set an example for other Chinese enterprises that wish to profit in the innovation-driven economy, says Li Xueyong, vice minister of Science and Technology

The list will be extended to about 500 firms in the next three to five years, officials say. The ministry will also help establish research and development centres in these companies and offer financial advice and technical training for them.

Official statistics show 99 per cent of Chinese companies had never applied for a patent and research and development investment of large and medium-sized corporations accounted for an average of only 0.71 per cent of annual turnover, far lower than the average five percent in developed countries.

(China Daily 08/07/2006 page9)