Wu: China 'resolute on IPR protection'

Chinese Vice Premier Wu Yi told a visiting US trade delegation China was stepping up its campaign to protect intellectual property rights, but needed more time to see significant results. Speaking at a roundtable meeting in Beijing, attended by US Secretary of Commerce Don Evans, Wu said that one sign of progress was the establishment late last year of a cross-ministry IPR protection group, headed by herself. In the two months since the group had been set up, state media quoted her as saying, more than 1,000 cases of IPR infringement involving about US$66.5m worth of goods had been investigated. The report did not say what, if any, action had been taken as a result. "The establishment and improvement of IPR protection system cannot be completed overnight, especially in a country of 1.3 billion people with one of lower economic and technological level," Wu said.