Chinese law enforcement agencies confiscated 49 million illegal
books, periodicals and audio-visual products in the first four
months of this year in a nationwide crackdown on unsuitable
materials, the National Office for Cleaning Up Pornography and
Fighting Illegal Publications announced on Tuesday, with pirated
products accounting for close to 90 percent of the total haul.
The office provided a precise breakdown with 1.69 million
pornographic publications, 1.06 million illegal newspapers and
magazines, and 2.96 million smuggled discs uncovered. Furthermore,
purveyors of such materials were also punished with 13,000 shops
and booths, 364 printing factories and 97 websites being closed
down for illegal operations. A further 17,000 shops, 1,825 printing
factories and 2,123 websites were fined.
Law enforcement departments across the country completed
investigations into 8,954 cases involving the production, sale and
distribution of illegal publications which resulted in 214 criminal
cases and 165 people being convicted.
Liu Binjie, head of the office, announced the beginning of a
summer campaign against illegal publications and called for law
enforcement bodies to clamp down on IPR violations, by using new
Supreme Court rulings on the issue to their full advantage.
China's top court recently lit a fire under criminals engaged in
piracy by lowering the threshold under which to prosecute
manufacturers or sellers of counterfeit products.?
The new interpretation issued in April states that anyone found
to have produced 500 or more counterfeit copies (discs) of computer
software, music, movies, TV series and other audio-video products
faces imprisonment of up to seven years. Fines were also raised,
ranging from one to 15 times the illegal earnings, or from 50 to
200 percent of the business turnover.
Liu, who is also head of the General Administration of Press and
Publications, said the crackdown would see more efforts at getting
rid of street vendors, flogging pirated, illegal and pornographic
books, CDs and DVDs.
(Xinhua News Agency May 23, 2007)
