China seemingly becomes stricter towards its copyright piracy

This week a senior government official reported that China has arrested over 4,000 people for violating intellectual property rights (IPR) since November and will enforce tougher punishments to combat the "rampant" problem.

At a news conference Tuesday, Gao Feng, deputy director of the Ministry of Public Security's Economic Crimes Investigation Bureau, said that his agency had uncovered more than 2,000 cases since China launched a six-month campaign to beef up enforcement of intellectual property rights last November.

Gao says that the financial value of the cases amounted 2.3 billion yuan ($348 million) noting also that the number of arrests, cases and financial value this time tripled as compared to the previous year.

"On one hand they demonstrate the achievements we've made in cracking down on the violation of IPR, on the other hand it also indicates that IPR violation is still quite rampant and frequent," Gao said. "So we want to introduce heavier punishments."

Harsher punishments of copyright piracy were promised by China under increasing pressure on the part of the United States. The commitment to its promise was shown in a six-month campaign aimed at counterfeit books, music, DVDs and software, in an effort to show that the country is serious about tackling the problem.

Meanwhile, in spite of Chinese campaign and repeated vows to get tough, pirated goods remain widely available on Chinese streets and in shops, sometimes sold within sight of large propaganda posters denouncing IPR violations.

The International Intellectual Property Alliance, which represents U.S. copyright industry groups, has estimated U.S. trade losses in China due to piracy at $3.5 billion in 2009.

U.S. customs officials say 80 percent of the fake tennis shoes, clothing, luxury bags and other goods they seize each year at the border come from China.