BEIJING, April 21 (Xinhuanet) -- The Information Office of the State Council, China's cabinet, Thursday issued a white paper titled New Progress in China's Protection of Intellectual Property Rights.

The white paper, the second of its kind since 1994, gives a "brief introduction" to and "explanation" of China's efforts and new progress in protecting intellectual property rights (IPR) over the past decade.

The document is intended to "help the international community have a better understanding of the real situation regarding China's IPR protection and make a proper judgment."

The white paper lists China's major progress in protecting IPR as follows:

-- Establishment of a relatively complete system of laws and regulations. Since the 1980s, the state has promulgated and put into effect a number of laws and regulations covering the major contents in IPR protection, including the patent law ,trademark law, and copyright law.

In 2001, around the time when China was admitted into the World Trade Organization (WTO), the country made comprehensive revisions to the laws and regulations regarding IPR protection and their legal interpretation.

The revisions brought the laws and regulations into conformity with the WTO's "Agreement on Trade-related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights" and other international rules on IPR protection.

-- Patent protection. From April 1, 1985, when China's patent law went into effect, to the end of 2004, the State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO) handled 2,284,925 patent applications with an average annual increase of 18.9 percent.

Of these, 1,874,358 were domestic applications, and 410,567 came from other countries, accounting for 82 and 18 percent, respectively.

By the end of 2004, the SIPO had approved 1,255,499 patents. Of these, 1,093,268 were domestic ones, and 162,231 were from other countries, accounting for 87.1 and 12.9 percent of the total number of approved patents, respectively.

-- Trademark protection. In October 2001, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress made revisions to the "Trademark Law" for the second time, thus bringing the relevant provisions of China's "Trademark Law" in line with the principles of WTO's "Agreement on Trade-related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights."

By the end of 2004, China had had 2,240,000 registered trademarks, and meanwhile, 129 countries and regions had had 403,000 trademarks registered in China. This represents almost a 79-fold increase over that in 1979, accounting for 18 percent of the total number of registered trademarks in China.

-- Copyright protection. According to incomplete statistics, from 1995 to 2004, copyright administrative management departmentsat all levels confiscated 350 million pirated copies, accepted 51,368 cases of infringement and resolved 49,983 of them.

In 2004, they accepted 9,691 cases of infringement, resolved 9,497 of them and imposed administrative sanctions on the infringersin 7,986 cases.

"These included the investigation and punishment of two Chineseenterprises that had infringed upon the copyright of the Microsoft Corporation of the United States and other major cases," says the white paper.