Chinese public play a decisive role in China's anti-piracy efforts, said Liu Binjie, vice minister of the General Administration of Press and Publications when he recently attended a seminar by the Beijing College Students Film Festival Organizing Committee.

The number of pirated products is still very large in China at present. Every year, there are about 120 million pirated CDs and DVDs, causing billions of yuan of economic loss to authorized manufacturers. In addition, about 500 million pirated books are produced every year, squeezing many authorized publishers out of the market, Liu said.

At present, China's anti-piracy efforts are mainly focused in three fields: increasing the formulation of relevant regulations, strengthening anti-piracy efforts, and improving the work of fighting against piracy at its sources. At present, China's pirated products are mainly made through four channels: international criminal gangs that smuggle pirated products into China, unauthorized domestic manufacturers that make products illegally, some authorized companies that engage in malpractices, and some individuals.

When the public are determined in fighting against piracy and all consumers refuse to buy pirated products, then these pirated products can not be sold for making profits, he said.

However, at present, most Chinese are not aware of the intellectual property rights protection issue. China hasn't set up a mature legal system for IPR protection.

"Not only do students buy a lot of pirated products, but some government institutions and state-owned enterprises also buy them. It is only in recent years that government institutions and state-owned enterprises have begun to promote the use of authorized software, " said Liu.

Editor: Donald