According to the message released by the office of China's Work Group for the Protection of Intellectual Property Rights on July 19, the Chinese government pays great attention to the protection of IPR, and constantly enhances the strength of cracking down the crime of infringement. The protection of IPR appears to have five trends:
1. Both the number of cases registered and the money amount of punishment are rising According to the data provided of Intellectual Pr4operty r4ights, since 1998, the public security authorities across the country have registered a total 7874 cases concerning IP infringement, with the trend rising year by year. The total value concerning all the cases of IP infringement was 210 million yuan in 1998, and rose to 630 million yuan in 2004, with a yearly growth rate of 42%.
2. Infringement of the right to exclusive use of well-known trademarks is the focus of cracking down, and the number of registered cases concerning such infringement takes up over 70% of the total number of all registered cases. Since 1998, the public security authorities across the country have registered a total of 5839 cases concerning infringement of the right to exclusive use of well-known trademarks, accounting for 74% of all the cases of IPR infringement.
3. The number of cases investigating and handling business secrets infringement has risen. From 1998 to 2003, the public security authoriti3es across the country registered over 500 cases concerning business secrets infringement, which involved an amount of 600 million yuan, accounting for 32% of the total amount of IPR infringement.
4. With IP means, crimes are becoming increasingly tricky, China has strengthened the building of a professional IP protection team, and vigorously enhanced the use of science and technology in protecting IP and fighting infringement. Therefore, the professional and scientific trend of IP protection is becoming increasingly apparent.
Finally, with the new situation of trans-boundary and transnational crimes in recent years, China has continued strengthening consultation and cooperation with the international community. For example, China has established relevant mechanisms with the US and some other countries to enhance the crack-down strength on transboundary and transnational crimes.
