As of the end of June this year, Hebei procuratorate has approved to arrest 228 suspects in 116 cases for infringing intellectual property rights (IPR) as well as producing and selling counterfeit and shoddy commodities since the launch of a special campaign on combating IPR infringements and counterfeits; while 195 criminals in 91 cases have been sent to court.

During the special campaign, the procuratorate has attached great importance to the crackdown on illegal activities violating intellectual property rights and civil rights. It has vowed to handle all those cases, especially major cases that had been transferred from public security organs, effectively and efficiently.

The procuratorate always participates in the investigation process of major and serious cases in due time and guides relevant departments to get access to the required evidences.

In a bid to form a strong combined enforcement force, the authority has also enhanced the cooperation and coordination with other departments to improve the mechanism on combining the administrative enforcement with criminal justice.

In December, 2010, a couple of officials were selected from the procuratorates at municipal and county level in Qinghuangdao City to  tackle two cases on the production and sales of fake wine and spurious trademarks in Funing County and Changli County, guiding the investigation team to collect evidences and to take enforcement actions in accordance with relevant laws.

On July 29, 2011, the principal criminal named Wang Chunping in the cases was sentenced to life imprisonment by the court, and other eight defendants were sentenced to seven to fifteen years in prison. Three enterprises producing fake wine in the cases were fined 4 million yuan, 2.83 million yuan and 2.83 million yuan respectively.

(Source:IPR in China)