China renews crackdown on pirated publications

BEIJING - The National Anti-Pornography and Anti-Illegal Publications Office on Thursday announced a new intellectual property rights campaign targeting sellers and printers of illegal publications.

The campaign will focus on Beijing, Shanghai, Guangdong, Hebei, Henan and Gansu -- six provincial-level regions characterized by "active markets and obvious problems," according to Jiang Jianguo, a senior official with the office.

"During the crackdown, relevant local anti-illegal publications offices should spare no efforts in market inspections and case investigations, with strict punishments for Xerox service providers, kiosks and moving vendors that print or sell illegal publications," Jiang said at a meeting.

Last month, authorities in 31 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions destroyed more than 29 million copies of pirated publications and other illegally-produced documents in a move to show the country's resolution in the crackdown.

Official figures indicate that authorities confiscated more than 38 million unauthorized publications and investigated more than 7,800 related cases between April 2011 and March this year.