More people are going to prison for violating intellectual
property rights (IPR), Supreme People's Court spokesman Sun Huapu
said on Friday.
Nearly 3,000 violators were put in prison last year because of
IPR-related crimes, Sun told a press conference. The figure was up
24 percent on 2004.
Great achievements were made after a judicial interpretation
became effective in late 2004 to enhance judicial protection of
IPR, said Ren Weihua, chief justice of the No 2 Criminal Tribunal
with the court.
At that time, Chinese courts began to treat infringement of IPR
as a major criminal offence rather than a minor one.
More severe punishments also began to be meted out for IPR
crimes previously considered to be not so serious, according to the
judicial interpretation, which was jointly announced by the Supreme
People's Court and the Supreme People's Procuratorate.
"As an IPR judge, I am upset if the IPR of foreign individuals
or companies are infringed in China. But I cannot help if the
proper owners do not file a suit," said Jiang Zhipei, chief justice
of the IPR Tribunal of the court.
The ratio of foreign-related cases has not risen sharply in
recent years, said Jiang.
At the press conference, the opening of a website on IPR
protection was announced.
Court verdicts made last year were available at
http://ipr.chinacourt.org/.
Jiang vowed that more and more of the latest IPR judgments would
be available in the near future.
High People's Courts in provinces, municipalities and autonomous
regions are responsible for uploading legal documents.
Foreign IPR owners are encouraged to sue suspected violators in
Chinese courts to protect their legal interests, said spokesman
Sun.
"Courts throughout China will continue to give equal protection
to domestic and foreign IPR owners," he added.
(China Daily March 11, 2006)