China will continue crackdown on copyright infringement and pornography publications as crime syndicates become more sophisticated in order to maintain illegal business, a Chinese official said in Tianjin Saturday.

Jiang Jianguo, deputy head of the National Anti-Pornography and Anti-Illegal Publications Office, said both varieties and the quantity of illegal publications were still rising in some areas.

More advanced digital and network technologies were used by offenders to produce those publications, he said at a meeting held in north China's port city.

At the meeting, Tianjin law enforcement and culture departments as well as intellectual property rights watchdog were cited for smashing a crime syndicate involved in copyright infringement in early June.

Jiang, also deputy chief of the General Administration of Press and Publication, said this demonstrated the Chinese government's long-term dedication to the fight against the violation of intellectual property rights and pornography publication.

Tianjin authorities spent long time to investigate the group, whose business once extended to almost all over China. Law enforcers eventually seized more than 100,000 counterfeit audio and video discs and more than 1,000 pornography DVDs, the largest case of this kind ever reported in Tianjin.

Convicted leader of the 11-member group Fu Wei has been sentenced to seven years in jail and fined 105,000 yuan (15,370 U.S. dollars). Other members were given jail terms from one to five years.

"This is a successful example that all relevant government departments work together to speed up the investigation and crackdown on copyright-related crimes," Jiang said.

(Xinhua News Agency August 9, 2009)