Zhang Jiawei reported for the China Daily about China’s efforts to destroy pirated goods and raise awareness among the public.
- China destroyed 36 million copies of pirated and illegal publications in 31 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities, the Guangming Daily reported.
- A total of 15 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities each destroyed more than 1 million copies of pirated and illegal publications.
- China obtained 8.48 million illegal publications and handled 1,894 IPR cases in the first quarter of this year in preparation for the Shanghai World Expo.
It is not clear what the author means with illegal. Works of which the copyright is pirated are illegal, but censored works are illegal in China too. Maybe this is the distinction the author is making.
In Bozhou, Anhui province they seized and set fire to “3,000 illegally copied reading materials, 14,000 porn discs, 117 gambling machines and 2,000 units of illegal satellite TV receivers (..)”
Read more in the corresponding China Daily article with less than impressive pictures of a “bonfire of the vanities” which shows basically the empty caskets of gambling machines.
Read the China Daily article here.
IP Dragon has covered these kind of operations already many times and is quite pessimistic about its efficacy. Instead it prefers an emphasis on streamlining litigation, criminal and administrative procedures.
