More than 73 million pirated products were confiscated by
copyright administrative authorities in 2006, a spokesman for the
State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO) said Tuesday.
The confiscated products include more than 18 million pirated
books, 1.1 million periodicals, 48 million audio-visual products,
2.01 million electronic publications and 3.79 million software
discs, spokesman Yin Xintian said at a press conference.
Customs offices across the country investigated and handled a
total of 2,473 intellectual property infringement cases in 2006,
involving nearly 200 million items of goods valued at more than 200
million yuan (US$25.6 million).
Yin said there was a remarkable growth in patent applications
and patents granted in 2006.
Statistics show that the SIPO received a total of 573,000 patent
applications in 2006, an increase of 20 percent over 2005. A total
of 268,000 patents were granted, up 25 percent on the previous
year.
(Xinhua News Agency April 17, 2007)