Increased efforts by Chinese customs to protect intellectual property rights (IPR) last year benefited 5,776 cases involving 34 countries, regions and international organizations, a senior customs official said yesterday.

Last year, Chinese customs seized more than 333 million pieces of goods involving IPR infringement, valued at close to 439 million yuan ($63 million) - up 83 and 116 percent year on year, respectively - Gong Zheng, vice-minister of the General Administration of Customs, told a press conference.

Most of the goods were found in the United States, United Kingdom, China, Japan, France, Greece, Germany and the Netherlands.

In a case last July, the Huangpu customs in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, seized two containers of fake Close Up toothpaste, infringing the trademark of consumer products giant Unilever.

The 298,730 pieces of counterfeit toothpaste were valued at close to 1 million yuan.

Among the IPR infringement cases seized, 99 percent involved trademarks, Gong said.

Almost all of the cases infringed on exports, which were dominated by consumer goods such as clothing, footwear, headgear, toys, bags, electronics and auto parts.

Most of these were uncovered when customs officials were inspecting exports through waterborne transportation.

"Cases of infringement by express and ordinary mail are getting more and more complicated," Gong added.

He suggested that foreign visitors not purchase, take and mail any goods that infringed IPR out of China.

The crackdown on counterfeiting and piracy has been stepped up amid the absolute value of IPR-infringed goods rising, he said.

"Compared with the rate of growth in trade volume, the proportion of IPR infringement in the overall volume has been dramatically decreasing," Gong added.

To date, the government has signed bilateral customs assistance agreements with more than 33 countries and regions, including cooperation on the enforcement of IPR protection.