"The US domestic environment around this issue, particularly in regards to China, is very serious right now and everyone needs to be aware of that," said Chris Israel, coordinator of international intellectual property enforcement.

"Addressing this issue means tangible results."

Israel was appointed by President George W. Bush in July to head a new office to coordinate the work of US agencies which play a role in fighting counterfeiting. He said he made China his first overseas trip because of the serious scale of violations here.

According to experts, China produces some 70 percent of the world's counterfeit goods with all manner of fake brand-named products widely available.

Ninety percent of the music and movies sold in China are pirated, according to US government figures, and American businesses lose billions of dollars each year and hundreds of thousands of jobs due to piracy.

Despite some progress in China, Israel said, "real and meaningful" deterrents to counterfeiting "doesn't exist today."

Monetary punishment for those caught pirating goods in China was currently "fairly insignificant" making it an acceptable cost of doing business for counterfeiters, Israel told a news briefing.

Criminal prosecutions are also too few.

Stronger enforcement of anti-piracy laws was needed at local levels of governments, he said.

"We're exceedingly focused on results and meaningful outcome," said Israel.

"One thing this office will strive to do ... and hopes to accomplish is to provide in exceedingly clear terms ... what our definition of success is."

Israel said his office will want to see a "real increase" in the number of prosecutions from China and "meaningful deterrents" to violating intellectual property rights.

One of the ways to reduce piracy is to expand US companies' market access for legitimate products such as movies in China, Israel said.

China currently limits the number of foreign movies shown in the country.

Israel cited as an example pirated DVDs of American movies hitting the streets as soon as the films are released in the United States.

"I think that will have a tremendous impact on piracy here," said Israel. "The pirates are all too willing to come up with an alternative to that and that sets up an opportunity for pirates to fulfil."

Israel said he hoped to see more joint efforts with China such as the smashing last month of a syndicate that sold fake pharmaceuticals, including Viagra pills, on the Internet to 11 countries. Eleven Chinese and one American were arrested.

Israel met Chinese officials including a vice minister at China's Ministry of Commerce during his visit.

He said top Chinese officials he spoke to recognize the problems and indicated they want eventually to emulate the United States in respecting intellectual property.

Israel also plans to visit Russia and Latin America in future trips -- two other areas with problems -- and will discuss with Japanese and European officials ways to cooperate to counter global piracy.

All rights reserved. � 2005 Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.

Related Links
SinoDaily
Search SinoDaily
Subscribe To SinoDaily Express