China toughens penalties against counterfeiters

China says it plans to make it easier to jail producers of counterfeit movies, music and other goods, responding to pressure from other governments to toughen penalties against rampant product piracy.

“What was once a simple intellectual property infringement may soon be a crime,” Li Xiao, a Supreme People’s Court judge, told the China Daily.

The report said a new judicial interpretation by the court would give police new weapons to fight product piracy. But it didn’t give any details of the penalties or say when they would take effect.

Other governments have been pressing China to impose jail terms on violators of patents and copyrights, complaining fines and other penalties usually imposed under Chinese rules are too mild to deter large-scale piracy.

US officials say Chinese piracy of goods ranging from movies and software to sporting goods and drugs costs companies worldwide up to €35bn a year in lost potential sales.

The number of Chinese criminal cases involving intellectual property rose by about 30% each year between 1998 and 2001, the China Daily said, citing the Economic Criminal Investigation Department of the Public Security Ministry.

Police investigated more than 2,000 piracy-related crimes in 2002-03.

Police are launching a one-year crackdown on counterfeiting of food, medicines, sanitary products and agricultural materials – all of which can directly affect public safety, said Zhao Bin, a public security ministry official quoted by the China Daily.

Earlier this year, at least 12 babies in eastern China died after drinking formula made from fake milk powder.