Police claim big gains in battle against piracy

The Ministry of Public Security has released figures from its yearlong crackdown on the sale of counterfeit and shoddy products, including fake drugs, many of them sold online.

At a news conference on Tuesday, officials said that police had solved an average of 151 cases of counterfeiting and arrested 162 suspectsevery day in 2013.

They also seized a record 300 million capsules containing fake medicines, having identified many routes for online sales.

"The Chinese police will never relent in their efforts so long as counterfeit and inferior products exist," said Gao Feng, political commissar and former deputy chief of the ministry’s economic crime investigation department.

Gao said the police had upgraded their technology to improve efficiency in the fight against forgery and bogus goods.

In one operation named "Cloud Top", police obtained information from the Internet and busted several hundred dens producing and marketing fake medicines through online chat application, according to Gao.

As a result, police seized more than 300 million capsules valued at 2.2 billion yuan ($367 million) — a record haul for the police, Gao said.

Chinese police have been praised for their cooperation with companies in the Global 500 for protecting the IPR of foreign companies, Gao said.

Throughout 2013, police intensified raids on criminals involved in piracy and the making and marketing fake and substandard products, said Gao, adding that such products endanger public health and security while harming innovation in the business community.

Nearly 60,000 suspects were apprehended in the 2013 crackdown, he said.

China has established a "national leading group" responsible for coordinating the fight against piracy, forgery and the infringement of intellectual property rights. The endeavor is chaired by Vice-Premier Wang Yang.

The deputy director of the office leading the group, Chai Haitao, said the piracy and counterfeiting activities have now shifted from the eastern areas of China to central and western areas, and is especially focused on communities that border the cities.

He said that another major trend is the growing popularity of the Internet as a route for sales of illicit goods.

All these new trends will be targeted during operations in 2014 to "effectively stem the crimes", he said.

Wang Qian, a law professor from the school of intellectual property at East China University of Political Science and Law, said that piracy activities have become more rampant on the Internet in recent years due to the low costs involved.

"Before the Internet came along, if somebody wanted to pirate a book or a CD, they had to buy paper, a printing machine and disks, as well as hire workers — and the high costs were an obstacle for most people," he said.

"But with the Internet, netizens can conduct piracy activities with a click of the mouse, and pirating things online is almost cost-free," he added.

The public should raise its awareness of intellectual property protection and condemn piracy as a shameful activity "like stealing money from others", Wang said.

Judicial authorities should enhance their anti-piracy activities, and criminal penalties are needed for the more serious offenses, he said.

Yu Guofu, director of Beijing Sheng Feng Law Firm, said that many Chinese laws have established concrete rules on intellectual property rights.

Contact the writers at zhaohuanxin@chinadaily.com.cn