As Chinese law enforcers intensify their crackdown on intellectual property rights infringements, Vice-Premier Wu Yi yesterday urged the public to raise their own awareness of IPR protection through government-sponsored education campaigns.

In a message marking the fifth World Day of Intellectual Property Rights, which fell yesterday, Wu Yi pledged to extend a year-long campaign to further reduce counterfeiting activities. Wu oversees nationwide IPR protection programmes, involving a number of national authorities.

Criminals' increasing sophistication and collusion between gangs from home and abroad is making the police's job increasingly difficult.

"Cases involving infringement of designer brands account for more than 70 per cent of intellectual property rights (IPR)-related crimes cracked by the police," said Zhang Tao, deputy director of the Economic Criminal Investigation Department under the Ministry of Public Security (MPS), at a press conference yesterday.

The police launched a year-long crackdown on crimes related to brand names or intellectual property, dubbed the 'Eagle Programme,' last November.

By April 1, 625 suspects had been arrested in 379 cases of brand infringement involving about 1 billion yuan (US$120 million) worth of merchandise, said Zhang.

Deputy Director of the State Administration of Industry and Commerce (SAIC) Li Dongsheng said at an IPR protection forum yesterday that authorities dealt with a total of 51,851 trademark infringement cases last year. More than 5,400 of the violations involved foreign trademarked products, such as fake clothes bearing Louis Vuitton, Polo and other famous brands, and fake electronic products labelled with Samsung and Panasonic logos.

SAIC Deputy Director Li said his administration is always ready to help protect the interests of foreign companies through administrative penalties.

Myron Brilliant, vice-president of the US Chamber of Commerce, said: "More than three years into its WTO implementation efforts, we clearly see positive changes in China's trade and investment regimes."

But there remain concerns that China needs to be more consistent in effectively and transparently enforcing certain trade rules, particularly in protecting and enforcing IPR, he said at the IPR forum.

Chinese officials and experts attribute IPR violations to local protectionism and weak IPR awareness among companies and the public.

Vice-commissioner of the State Intellectual Property Office Zhang Qin said his office will launch an IPR education campaign among domestic firms.

(China Daily April 27, 2005)