China Claims Success in Fighting Pirated Goods

China is claiming success in its nine-month crackdown on product piracy leading to 3.43 billion yuan ($530 million) in intellectual property infringement cases.

“You could say that there still exists some problems with China’s IPR (intellectual property rights), but I don’t endorse the idea that it is extremely serious,” said Vice Minister of Commerce Jiang Zengwei at a press conference.

Police have shut down 12,854 plants turning out pirated and counterfeit goods and arrested 9,031 suspects since the crackdown began in late October, said Jiang.

All central government agencies are using legally purchased software as of May, China had announced lat year as another important step in the war against intellectual property infringement. Local government bodies are now required to set aside budgets for legal software purchases. Jiang expressed the hope that they would become role models to the rest of the country.

The government’s anti-piracy crackdown appears to have focused on producers of pirated goods rather than the myriad small venders who sell them. Even in the capital of Beijing small shops continue to sell pirated DVDs and clothing.