A notice on stepping up the crackdown upon online infringement of intellectual property rights (IPR) and production and distribution of fake and shoddy commodities (Here in after referred to as the Notice) has been jointly issued by nine Chinese ministerial departments, including the Ministry of Commerce, Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, Ministry of Public Security, the People's Bank of China, the General Administration of Customs, the State Administration for Industry and Commerce, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, the General Administration of Press and Publication (the National Copyright Administration) and the State Intellectual Property Office.
The Notice urged relevant departments to further combat online copyright infringement and counterfeiting and make incremental efforts in case investigation.
Competent authorities all over the country, especially administrations in Zhejiang, Shanghai and Shenzhen where online marketplaces such as Taobao, Eachnet and Paipai locate, shall enhance the supervision on online shopping platforms. It was emphasized in the Notice that relevant departments should take actions according to the seriousness of the violations, such as warning, setting deadlines for rectification, or ultimately cutting off offenders' internet access and terminate their domain name services.
The Notice has made it clear that online shopping websites shall bear the responsibilities as market organizers and enhance self-discipline by establishing strict and sound mechanisms on market access and trademark & patent retrieval, employing technical measures to block information related to IPR infringing and fake commodities and setting up a round-the-clock patrolling system to uncover and investigate illegal operations on time.
Relevant authorities across the country are required to expose typical IPR infringing cases and alleged illegal operators to the public to educate consumers to boycott IPR infringing, and fake shoddy products so as to help maintain a healthy environment where intellectual property rights are cherished and respected.
496 IPR infringing cases (involving over 700 million yuan) had been uncovered in online shopping field, with 355 suspects being arrested and 410 illegal websites being shut down by the end of March, since a notice on printing and distributing the strategy on combating IPR infringement and production and sales of fake and shoddy commodities was jointly issued last December by nine ministerial departments, including the Ministry of Commerce.
(Source:IPR in China)
