Twelve thousand people were prosecuted for infringing on intellectual property rights last year, about 64 times the number in 1999, reflecting China's constant improvement in IPR protection, the head of the Supreme People's Procuratorate said.

IPR protection is a critical support for building an innovation-oriented country, and protecting IPR is protecting innovation, Zhang Jun, SPP procurator-general, told China Daily on the sidelines of the ongoing annual two sessions on Friday.

He said that the significant increase shows that legislation on IPR protection in China has been continuously improved and strictly implemented, and the comprehensive judicial protection of IPR has become more effective.

The Communist Party of China Central Committee, with Xi Jinping at its core, has always attached great importance to and made major decisions, arrangements and instructions for IPR protection since the 18th CPC National Congress in 2012, Zhang said. Procuratorial organs have also comprehensively performed their duties in strict accordance with the law to protect IPR and made pragmatic and fruitful efforts, he added.

From 2016 to 2020, more than 45,000 people were prosecuted for crimes of infringing on intellectual property rights. In November 2020, the SPP integrated its criminal, civil and administrative functions and set up an intellectual property rights procuratorial office to strengthen comprehensive protection of IPR.

Pilot projects with specialized teams to deal with IPR cases were implemented in 2020 in nine provincial regions, including Hainan province, Tianjin and Chongqing.