Complaints of intellectual property rights (IPR) violations will be received and handled
round the clock in 50 major cities soon, Vice-Premier Wu Yi
said yesterday.
"We'll leave violators nowhere to hide," she told a
conference on IPR protection
and innovation, co-organized by the China Enterprise Confederation (CEC), the All-China Federation
of Industry & Commerce and the China Association of Enterprises with
Foreign Investment.
The government has
been sincere and serious in protecting IPRs, Wu said, adding that the country's
improved legal framework, protection mechanisms, anti-piracy campaigns and
publicity have helped a great deal.
Police and industrial watchdog staff dealt with 42,645 trademark infringement
cases last year, with 3,529 people convicted and 845 facing trials,
she added.
However, Wu admitted there is
still a long way to go as IPR infringement is still rampant in some areas in
certain cases, law enforcement is loose and government agencies are lenient with
violators.
Wu called on businesses the mainstay of a
market-oriented economy to take an active part in safeguarding
IPRs, noting that "99 percent of companies on the mainland have never
applied for a patent, and only 40 percent of them own
a trademark."
Competition among companies will mainly be a contest
of IPRs and every business has a duty towards IPR protection,
she said.
An environment which
ensures IPR protection will be a major attraction to overseas investors,
she said.
CEC President Chen Jinhua said that on average, only 3 out
of every 10,000 Chinese companies have independent IPRs. Between April 1985 and
last December, the State Intellectual Property Office received only 2.76 million
patent applications.
Yang Yuanqing, chairman of
Lenovo Group, said the company had purchased software worth 10 billion yuan
(US$1.23 billion) from Microsoft over the years, showcasing its commitment to
respecting IPRs.
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