China police solve 17,000 IP infringement cases
China’s police solved 17,000 cases involving IP infringement in 2016, according to Shen Changyu, head of the State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO).
This comes as part of a larger effort to create a more innovative economy in the country, explained Xinhua, China’s official news agency.
Speaking at a press conference, Changyu added that in 2016, customs authorities seized more than 17,000 shipments of goods suspected of IP infringement, with these involving about 42 million individual units.
Chinese courts heard 136,500 IP cases in 2016, a 24.8% increase, with a total of 3,797 people being arrested and 7,059 being prosecuted.
The National Copyright Administration instigated more than 5,500 cases involving internet IP infringement and shut down more than 3,000 websites, with total fines of RMB 20.5 million ($3 million) since 2005.
In March, China’s State Council issued a guideline on counterfeiting and IP infringements, demanding better market supervision, and improvements to the law, regulations and standards.
Changyu explained that a group of IP protection centres will be established to fast-track cases involving IP infringement.
“With the government’s efforts to improve IP protection, the country’s inventiveness has grown,” said Xinhua.
SIPO received nearly 1.34 million applications for invention patents in 2016, an increase of 21.5% year-on-year, with Chinese inventors making up more than 40,000 international applications.
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