The authorities of Haidian Park, part of Beijing Zhongguancun high-tech cluster, have just released a DVD cartoon designed to fight infringement and promote intellectual property protection.

"In the form of the relaxing and humorous cartoons, people may find it much easier to accept intellectual property information," said Yang Zhiqiang, head of Haidian Park management committee.

The cartoon warns of trade secret violations, unfair competition, infringement on software copyrights, and pirated use of patents and trademarks.

"We also hope that enterprises strengthen awareness of intellectual property rights," Yang said. "It is key to their development."

Yang said intellectual property consciousness includes "encouraging innovation, protecting intellectual property rights and enhancing independent innovation capability".

From 2007 to 2009, the Haidian court accepted 2,236 intellectual property cases, 2,107 of which were related to enterprises in Haidian Park.

According to Yang, the cases ranged from disputes on patents, trademarks, copyrights, computer software, technical contracts and unfair competition. The 1,691 copyright disputes accounted for 87.2 percent of total court cases.

Yang noted that some enterprises in the park are still plagued by legal action.

"Some enterprises are not familiar with the litigation processes so that they usually find themselves in a passive position in a prosecution or as a defendant," Yang said. "Some of them lack brand awareness and cannot effectively protect their brands."

The most prevalent source of dispute was between video websites and film copyright owners.

Yang cited one video website as the cause of 256 complaints, more than 15 percent of total copyright infringement cases at Haidian Park.

"We hope that the enterprises strengthen communication with the rightful owners and improve their operations.

(Source: China Daily)