Officials in Guangzhou, the capital city of South China's Guangdong province, handled 16 cases from last November through May involving alleged infringements of intellectual property rights (IPR) relating to the upcoming Asian Games, according to Tao Kaiyuan, director of the Intellectual Property Office of Guangdong province.

The next Asian Games will be held in Guangzhou in 2010, which officials said is resulting in more IPR-related infringement cases.

Guangzhou has issued regulations strengthening IPR protections for the upcoming games.

The government also has signed agreements with Foshan, Dongguan and Shanwei to strengthen IPR enforcement.

Tao said Guangzhou officials will soon release additional IPR regulations that specifically address protecting logos for the upcoming Asian Games.

(Source: China Daily)