As the international community marks World Intellectual Property Day, China continues to improve its IPR protection efforts. As CCTV reporter Guan Xin reports, the country is aiming to further strengthen IPR protection laws, in an effort to promote better innovation capacity.

Millions of pirated DVDs, books, and other publications have been destroyed in cities around China, to mark World Intellectual Property Day. Thousands of people signed up to show their support for innovation, and just say no to piracy.

China is making unprecedented efforts to improve IPR awareness, and enforcing concrete actions to crack down on infringement.

One government official says this year's theme is combining IPR protection, and the country's economic restructuring.

Yang Hongju, Legal Affairs Director of China State Intellectual Property Office, said, "China aims to build an innovation-driven economy. The protection of Intellectual Property Rights has been given a higher priority. We face many challenges in IPR protection, so we should continue to improve our legal and administrative infrastructure, while exploring a more effective working mechanism, to better protect Intellectual Property."

Guan Xin said, "Enforcement of IPR laws and regulations is improving in China. The country's courts reviewed 41-thousand IPR related cases in 2010, up more than a third, year on year. Such progress has encouraged many companies to improve their capacity for innovation."

Mr. Huang is the Head of IPR Supervision at a leading Chinese electronics company. Some of its properties, involving millions of yuan in research and development, had been pirated by relatively unknown firms that make less expensive products. After suing the "copycats," Aigo was able to recoup its losses.

But even though progress is being made, more efforts are still needed. Many complain that legal procedures for IPR related cases in China take too long, and protection against new forms of violations, such as those involving copyrights and the Internet, are considered quite inadequate at this time.

(Source: Xinhua)