Violation of IPR now major crime
Beijing,Dec.22 (Chinacourt.org) China announced Tuesday stricter criteria for intellectual property right (IPR) violations, intensifying the crackdown on rampant IPR infringements. The Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Procuratorate held a joint press conference Tuesday to announce the judicial interpretation of the Criminal Law application on IPRviolations. The new criteria will go into effect on December 22. The new interpretation allows for the sentencing of people convicted of producing and selling fake registered trademarks, selling products with counterfeited trademarks and infringing copyright with the economic value of 50,000 yuan and above. Previously, the criteria was 100,000 yuan to 200,000 yuan. The interpretation also said one is an accomplice if he/she knowingly provides various conveniences or acts as an import/export agent for someone who carried out the crime of IPR infringements. "Giving 'help providers' the same criminal punishment will definitely strengthen the efforts of cracking down on IPR violations," said Cao Jianming, Vice-President of the Supreme People's Court. In the new interpretation online piracy is seen as copyright infringement and those who violate the law will be prosecuted accordingly. The interpretation also set sentence criteria on CD, VCD and software piracies. Now a person who copies literature, music, movie, TV programs and software in more than 5,000 CDs or VCDs without the permission from the copyright owners will be sentencedin prison for three to seven years. | 
