China will launch a nationwide campaign to step up its protection of Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) in the upcoming months, chinadaily.com reported.
China will also intensify its crackdown against copyright infringement to ensure a sound market order for domestic and overseas investors, Vice-Premier Wu Yi pledged at a meeting of the National Intellectual Property Protection Work Group in Beijing, August 19, 2004.
She stated that the Chinese Government has been attaching great importance to IPRs protection and has mapped out a series of related laws and regulations that meet the nation's conditions as well as international practice.
“Both judicial and administrative means have been adopted to crack down on the violation of IPRs,” Wu pointed out. “Cooperation in law enforcement between China and other countries and regions is also highlighted,” she added.
Led by the State Copyright Bureau, the General Administration of Customs and Ministry of Public Security, local government departments have also exerted efforts in this regard.
“Chinese people have improved their awareness of the importance of IPRs, and government organizations have taken the lead in the use of copyrighted software in their work,” said Wu. On the other hand, State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO) commissioner Wang Jingchuan called on enterprises and scientific circles to put IPRs on strategic agendas.
"The creation, application and protection of IPRs has become a worldwide trend in recent years... and a greater holding of IPRs means a greater share of markets in today's fierce competition," Wang stated at the China International Patent Fair 2004, which was held August 18 -21, in Dalian, a coastal city in Northeast China's Liaoning Province.
The four-day fair, organized by SIPO, the Liaoning Provincial Government and the Dalian Municipal Government, exhibited the latest patented technologies and products from domestic and overseas companies and research institutes.