china has established a fair, efficient and authoritative judicial structure for intellectual property right (ipr) protection, and right holders from at home and abroad are getting due protection, according to a senior court official.

"chinese ipr laws are typically in tune with international ipr laws, so equal protection is accorded to both overseas and domestic ipr owners," xiong xuanguo, vice-president of the supreme people's court, told an ipr protection forum in beijing yesterday.

the number of ipr cases has increased in recent years. chinese courts received 54,321 and concluded 52,437 civil cases from 2002 and 2006, up by 17.1 and 19.3 percent year-on-year.

"the big increase indicates the rapid development of china's ipr protection undertakings, as well as strong social demand and trust in the legal process," xiong added.

in january, the supreme court issued a notice ordering stricter penalties for ipr violators, whose "illegal gains and production tools should be confiscated and their pirated products destroyed".

this month china lowered the threshold at which a criminal act of ipr infringement is deemed to have occurred and it began dealing heavier punishments to violators.

anyone who produces more than 2,500 counterfeit items can now be sentenced to a maximum of seven years' jail.

the previous rules from 2004 set a limit of 1,000 pirated discs and defined "serious offenders" as those who produced over 5,000 copies.

"the courts will extend the protection of intellectual property rights and do their utmost to punish offenders and prevent crime," xiong said.

the official also warned that the government would not go soft on ipr infringement, with a surge in ipr cases expected under the new regulations.

by 2006 china had established 172 ipr tribunals and 140 ipr collegiate courts, with a total of 1,667 judges presiding over ipr cases.

(china daily 04/25/2007 page14)