Vice-Premier hears piracy petition

A group of multinational corporations held a meeting with Vice-Premier Wu Yi in September to push for better protection of their brands, South China Morning Post reported. The group, organised by the Quality Brands Protection Committee of the China Association of Enterprises with Foreign Investment, included Procter & Gamble, Johnson & Johnson, Dell Computer, Ericsson and Nike. Wu told the meeting that the government intended to draft new legislation governing criminal liability in relation to intellectual property, but gave no indication of a timetable for its introduction.

Some participants felt that Wu listened closely to the complaints and was planning to follow up. They noted that Wu, who acted as health minister during the Sars crisis, seemed particularly responsive to representations from the pharmaceutical industry.