China reports major anti-piracy move

BEIJING - Chinese law enforcement agencies destroyed nearly 13 million
pirated compact discs, DVDs and computer software Saturday in the
government's latest campaign to curtail rampant theft of intellectual
property, state media reported.

The destroyed items were confiscated in the first half of an ongoing
100-day nationwide campaign against piracy, the Xinhua News Agency
said. Police seized the items in raids that took in the scope of
pirated goods networks, from unlicensed factories to street vendors,
Xinhua said.

Among the seized goods, according to the report, nearly half came
from Guangdong, the economically dynamic southern province that abuts
Hong Kong.

Over the past two years, China has ratcheted up efforts to stamp out
the rampant theft of intellectual property, partly in response to
pressure from the United States and

European Union
and partly to protect new Chinese companies that are starting to
produce their own competitive goods. Still, illegally produced CDs,
DVDs and computer software are widely available on city streets, and
Chinese leaders acknowledge that it will take years to eliminate the
practice.

In enforcing the latest crackdown, police and copyright officers
closed down 8,907 shops and street vendors, 481 publishing companies
and 942 illegal Web sites, Xinhua said. Police have uncovered ten
illegal production lines for CDs and DVDs, four of them in Guangdong,
the report said.

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