HAIKOU, Nov. 2 (Xinhuanet) -- A top Chinese official in charge of intellectual property (IP) protection appealed Wednesday to treat China's IP protection with an objective and developmental view.

    "China has taken a string of strong measures and has made significant progress in IP protection in recent years," said Zhang Zhigang, director of the Office for the National Working Group on IP Protection under the State Council, China's cabinet.

    He made the remarks while addressing representatives from over 40 famous multinational corporations at the 19th annual conference of the International Network of Private Business Organizations held in Haikou, capital of China's southernmost province of Hainan.

    He said that China set up the National Working Group on IP Protection in August 2004, with vice premier Wu Yi as its head, which comprised 12 government departments.

    Various local governments across China have also established IP protection and supervision departments to strengthen the efforts.

    China has launched a nationwide IP protection campaign since September 2004 to highlight rectification in the protection of trademark rights, copyrights and patents, and tightened control inthe "key linkages" such as imports and exports, exhibitions, wholesale markets, printing and duplication business, according toZhang.

    The campaign has made fruitful achievement, he said, adding that over 50,000 infringement cases had been handled by September 2005 with fines up to 376 million yuan (46.36 million US dollars).

    And over 50 million illegal audio-visual products were seized and 19,000 illegal businesses were closed down, in addition to handling of 3,176 cases of counterfeit patents, he added.

    To step up legal protection of intellectual property rights, the Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Procuratorate jointly issued the interpretations on concrete application of lawsin dealing with intellectual property infringement cases.

    Meanwhile, China has stepped up exchanges and cooperation with a large number of relevant international organizations and countries in this respect, including WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organization), the European Union, the United States, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Brazil and Mexico, he said. Enditem