According to the Office of the Inter-Ministerial Joint Meeting for the implementation of the National Intellectual Property Strategy (the Office of the Inter-Ministerial Joint Meeting), China had further strengthened the campaign against Intellectual Property (IP) infringement, established a long-term mechanism for IP protection, and made remarkable progress in IP field, with 2,510 patent disputes handled and 6,512 patent infringement cracked down in 2012.

According to the data, the courts all over the country received a total of 87,419 and 2,928 first-instance IP civil cases as well as administrative cases, and concluded 12,794 IP criminal cases. The first-instance IP civil cases were up 45.99%. Meanwhile, the procuratorates nationwide approved arrests of suspects in 5,256 cases, up 20.3%. During the same period, the polices investigated 44,000 cases of counterfeiting which involved goods worth of 11.314 billion yuan, while the customs officials recorded 4,138 IP applications and confiscated over 15,000 batches of infringing goods with more than 90 million goods involved. Moreover, the industry and commerce administrations nationwide tackled 120,400 cases of counterfeiting worth an estimated 851 million yuan in value and 112,000 cases of fake name-brands with a value of 274 million yuan. Besides, the state copyright authorities also handled 282 cases and shut down 183 websites last year in a campaign against online IPR infringement and piracy.

According to a principal from the Office of the Inter-Ministerial Joint Meeting, IP protection should be placed as the top priority of the implementation of the National IP Strategy. There are 84 specific measures in the Promotion Plan for the implementation of the National Intellectual Property Strategy in 2013, 30 of which are about strengthening IP protection. China will further improve its IP-related laws as well as regulations, and improve the long-term mechanism to combat IP infringement in accordance with the law.  

(China IP News)