China's customs cracks down 1,076 IPR infringement cases

China prosecuted 1,076 cases of intellectual property rights infringement and seized 39 million fake products in the first half of the year. Altogether 39 million fakes were seized, with a total value of 8.5 million U.S. Dollars, according to statistics from China's General Administration of Customs (GAC).

Customs officials in southern China's Guangzhou on May 24 seized 108,000 bottles of counterfeit medicine from Hong Kong named Wong To Yick worth 1.89 million yuan. It was the biggest reported case involving imported fake good in recent years.

According to the administration, Xiamen customs in May seized 672 pieces of children's clothing suspected of illegally carrying the 2008 Olympic trademark mascots. The same violation was also discovered by Tianjin customs on 4,150 school bags being exported to Cameroon.

The GAC has launched a crackdown on the transport of counterfeit goods by mail. A total of 157 cases of mail fraud were uncovered by Fuzhou customs in the first half of the year.

More sophisticated electronic detection devices were being used to uncover IPR infringement, said the GAC.

China is under increased global pressure to crack down on rampant IPR and trademark violations by Chinese companies which resulted in huge losses to Western firms.