IPR protection bears fruit, procurator-general says

Zhang said IPR cases often involve cutting-edge technologies and a number of different fields and require professional knowledge.

"The specialized office can coordinate the use of criminal, civil and administrative procuratorial functions to effectively offer judicial protection to IPR," he said.

"It can also promote the establishment of high-quality IPR procuratorial teams and improve their working capacity, quality and efficiency," Zhang added.

Even in cases in which rights holders have not defended their rights in a timely fashion in criminal IPR cases, Zhang said procuratorates have fully implemented the policy of notifying involved parties of litigation rights and obligations. That facilitates the parties' participation in litigation activities as well as providing for supplementary evidence to be provided in a timely manner to safeguard their interests.

The establishment of the office has fully demonstrated the procuratorial organs' determination and confidence to resolutely confront IPR infringement crimes, Zhang said.

Last year, the number of people prosecuted for IPR infringement nationwide increased by 10.5 percent year-on-year.

Zhang said the increase does not necessarily mean that more such crimes occurred last year, but mainly shows that law enforcement and judicial departments have stepped up efforts in cracking down on such crimes.

Last year, the SPP and the Supreme People's Court issued a judicial interpretation on handling criminal cases of IPR infringement. The SPP also made improvements in the filing of cases and prosecution standards for infringement cases involving commercial secrets in conjunction with the Ministry of Public Security.

New amendment

The latest amendment to the nation's Criminal Law, which took effect on March 1, revised the crime of infringing on IPR and included general acts that were not previously treated as crimes.

Zhang said activities now classified as crimes under IPR provisions include stealing, spying, buying illegally and providing commercial secrets for overseas institutions, organizations and personnel. Bribery, fraud and electronic intrusion have been classified as improper acts for obtaining commercial secrets under the crime of infringing on commercial secrets.

The amendment has also adjusted the criteria for incrimination under several kinds of crimes and made changes in provisions for applying the maximum legal penalty. Except for the crime of patent counterfeit, all crimes of infringing on IPR will incur prison sentences, he said.

"The obvious change is that the standards for criminalizing IPR infringement have been lowered, and the punishment for violators is tougher."

In one case cited by the SPP, the procuratorate in Rui'an, Zhejiang province, charged Jin Yiying, a former employee of an optical instrument company in Wenzhou, Zhejiang, with the crime of infringing on commercial secrets in 2018.

Jin signed a confidentiality agreement with the company when he was hired in 2005. But after leaving the company in 2011, he registered a new company in the name of his brothers-in-law and used technologies stolen from his former employer to produce similar products, costing his former employer a loss of more than 1.22 million yuan ($187,785).

Although Jin did not admit to the criminal act of infringing on commercial secrets, the procuratorate filed a case against Jin based on evidence in August 2018. Jin was sentenced to 18 months in prison and fined 700,000 yuan in June 2019.