It is been a year since Beijing's Chaoyang District instituted an anti-copyright infringement and piracy-free zone, and both the government and participating companies have found it to be an effective measure to fight piracy.

Jointly launched by the People's Government of Beijing's Chaoyang District and the American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) in China, the project was designed to increase the awareness of intellectual property right (IPR) protection through educating the public, building distribution channels for legitimate products and enhancing IPR protection.

Participated enterprises are members of AmCham-China, including News Corp-20th Century Fox, Microsoft, NBC-Universal, Time Warner and Warner Bros.

Since the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for the inauguration of the Chaoyang Project in October 2006, both parties have worked closely together in a number of campaigns to protect legitimate markets, promote the merits of genuine products and increase awareness.

As part of the education and publicity effort, student tours began in November 2006, visiting Microsoft's research and development facilities and the Beijing Film Studio, which gave students a first-hand look at how intellectual properties are created.

During a Consumer Protection Day, participating companies in the Chaoyang Project joined government officials to promote legitimate products. A booth was set up to distribute materials on IPR protection while staff members were on site to answer questions on how to distinguish copyright infringing products such as pirated DVDs.

As part of International Property Week in April, company representatives of the project were invited to speak about IPR protection to students from eight major Beijing universities.

"These activities helped teach the significance of IPR protection for the healthy development industries. The result led many to support IPR protection and reject pirated products," says David Kay, director of Microsoft (China) Corp's legal department.

To build distribution channels for legitimate products, companies worked with the government to invite major wholesalers and retailers of audiovisual products in the Chaoyang District to a forum to exchange views with representatives of copyright owners.

IPR industry experts at the forum told retailers that it is possible to protect copyrights and increase sales at the same time.

In addition, the People's Government of Beijing's Chaoyang District set up its own CBD (Central Business District) Coordination Office responsible for receiving complaints on copyright infringement and enhancing cooperation with copyright owners.

The office is part of the Beijing's Working Committee on the Protection of IPR and is Beijing's first district-level service center to receive complaints.

Also as part of its effort to enhance anti-piracy enforcement, the Chaoyang Project organized a high-level seminar in which China's Supreme Court, Beijing Municipal People's Procuratorate, the Beijing Service Center for IPR and industry representatives were able to exchange views.

In October, with leads provided by participating companies in the project, a number of pirated product outlets were inspected and raided by a team of officers from different governmental agencies, including the Culture Committee, Administration of Industry and Commerce, Municipal Control and the Public Security Bureau.

More than 10,000 copies of pirated DVD movies and television shows were seized from one location near Chaoyang Park. The case is currently under further investigation.

"Since our founding, AmCham-China has acted as a bridge for cooperation between businesses and governments from both China and the United States. Along with the Chaoyang Project member companies, AmCham-China is committed to making a positive contribution to IPR protection through the goals and objectives of the project," says Michael Barbalas, president of AmCham-China.

He says that the project welcomes more companies to join and contribute to the growth of IPR-related industries in China, and hopes similar cooperative efforts will flourish in other parts of the country.

Zhang Yong, director of the Bureau of Commerce of Chaoyang District, says the project has enabled the Chaoyang District to improve the protection of IPR in advance of the Olympics, and the effort will continue.

The government will continue to expand channels for the distribution of legitimate products, improve inter-government coordination and closely monitor law enforcement efforts against pirates to further clean up the marketplace, Zhang says.

"Microsoft and other participating companies will continue developing their close cooperation with the local government and build a leading IPR protection model district in China through more activities and mechanisms," Kay says, stressing IPR protection is a long-term commitment.

AmCham-China represents more than 2,500 members and over 1,100 companies doing business in China. The chamber has more than 41 industry- and topic-specific forums and committees, offers services such as its express US business visa program, holds a wide range of networking and informational events, and meets regularly with US and Chinese officials to discuss opportunities and challenges for US firms doing business in China.

Statistics from IDC indicate China's piracy rate has dropped by 10 percent in recent years, which has saved the industries over 864 million yuan.

(China Daily 12/08/2007 page9)

2013-07-17