Jiangxi province's first infringement prosecution involving a Taiwan resident showed the close collaboration between various government departments in the fight against piracy, according to local officials.

Part of a nationwide crackdown on intellectual property infringement that began last year, the case was one of the largest local authorities dealt with in recent years - but it took some effort to discover the actual owner of the offending company.

The case began when the Jiangxi copyright bureau received a complaint last August from Beijing Publishing Group (BPG) saying that Pacific Education and Advisory Co Ltd (PEA), an education company in Nanchang, was printing pirated editions of the English-language textbook See it and Say It, which is copyrighted by BPG.

Copyright bureau agents raided the PEA on Sept 1 and found more than 12,000 copycat textbooks.

PEA was founded in 2007 with a corporate representative surnamed Tan, but after investigation, Jiangxi police found that behind the scenes the company was actually controlled by Taiwan resident Lin Tse-Cheng.

They found that Lin organized the printing of 15,000 copies of See it and Say It at Nanchang Jingang Color Printing Co Ltd in August 2009 without authorization from BPG.

The books were used as textbooks for language programs offered by Lin's company.

Because Lin is from Taiwan, the province's Taiwan affairs office also took part in the investigation.

Due to the large number of pirated books, the Nanchang intermediate court ruled that Lin and PEA had committed a criminal act.

But because only about 2,900 copies were actually distributed and the books were used solely at PEA's classes rather than sold to the general public, the court put Lin on three years probation and fined him 60,000 yuan ($9,130).

As well, the provincial administration of press and publication revoked Jingang Color's printing license.

The case attracted attention from the General Administration of Press and Publication, the Ministry of Public Security, the Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Procuratorate.

"Solving this case is a successful example of joint efforts by many departments and shows our firm stand to protect intellectual property rights and fight counterfeits and piracy," said a local government official.

Source:China Daily