The ongoing campaign against piracy has achieved remarkable results as more than 8 million illegal publications were confiscated last month, Long Xinmin, director of the National Copyright Administration, said yesterday.

Last month, sales of authorized CDs and DVDs increased 10 per cent year-on-year in major cities such as Beijing and Guangzhou.

At a ceremony yesterday, musicians, writers and IT workers signed their names to support the 100-day campaign, which runs until late October.

More than 3,000 stores across the country that used to sell pirated products have been closed since the campaign started on July 15. About 9,500 stores were fined.

The campaign against pirated CDs, DVDs and software was organized by 10 central government departments, including the National Copyright Administration and the Ministry of Public Security.

Compared with previous campaigns, the ongoing one is unprecedented in terms of duration and the number of departments involved. Nearly 1 million government personnel took part in the campaign.

Nationwide in the past month, about 60 per cent of sellers of books and software cleared pirated products off their shelves, according to the administration.

Police have strengthened punishments against intellectual property rights (IPR) violators.

On July 20, the Ministry of Public Security issued a warrant for Sun Xuemei and Zhang Li, two suspects involved in the selling of pirated discs in North China's Tianjin Municipality.

It was the first time that a warrant had been issued for this kind of suspects.

Long said that widespread piracy has not only damaged the country's image but also hindered the development of domestic industries.

(China Daily 08/17/2006 page2)