The ongoing campaign against piracy has achieved remarkable
results as more than 8 million illegal publications were
confiscated last month, Long Xinmin, director of the National
Copyright Administration, said yesterday.
Last month, sales of authorized CDs and DVDs increased 10
percent year-on-year in major cities such as Beijing and
Guangzhou.
At a ceremony yesterday, musicians, writers and IT workers
signed their names to support the 100-day campaign, which runs
until late October.
More than 3,000 stores across the country that used to sell
pirated products have been closed since the campaign started on
July 15. About 9,500 stores were fined.
The campaign against pirated CDs, DVDs and software was
organized by 10 central government departments, including the
National Copyright Administration and the Ministry of Public
Security.
Compared with previous campaigns, the ongoing one is
unprecedented in terms of duration and the number of departments
involved. Nearly 1 million government personnel took part in the
campaign.
Nationwide in the past month, about 60 percent of sellers of
books and software cleared pirated products off their shelves,
according to the administration.
Police have strengthened punishments against intellectual
property rights (IPR) violators.
On July 20, the Ministry of Public Security issued a warrant for
Sun Xuemei and Zhang Li, two suspects involved in the selling of
pirated discs in North China's Tianjin Municipality.
It was the first time that a warrant had been issued for this
kind of suspects.
Long said that widespread piracy has not only damaged the
country's image but also hindered the development of domestic
industries.
(China Daily August 17, 2006)
