"I'm now looking at the details of the action plan; it's good they have one. It's something companies have been pressing them to do for a long time," said Joseph Simone, a partner in the Hong Kong office of law firm Baker & McKenzieis and legal counsel for the luxury brand owners who have taken the landlord of Beijing's Silk Market -- notorious for selling fake goods -- to court.

The new initiative from Beijing, entitled: "China's Action Plan on IPR Protection," was released March 8.

An unnamed Chinese official with the State Intellectual Property Office was quoted in government-controlled media Thursday saying "this is the first comprehensive annual action plan we have formulated."

China's Ministry of Commerce describes the scheme as "a comprehensive, scientific and highly workable action plan with priorities, playing an important role in guiding China's IPR protection endeavor."

The Action Plan covers 4 major areas: trademark, copyright, patent and import and export involving the coordination of IPR protection plans within 11 different Chinese government departments.

The plan for 2006 will tackle nine areas: legislation, law enforcement, mechanism building, propaganda, training and education, international communication and cooperation, promoting business self discipline, services to right holders and subject research.

China will draft, formulate and revise 17 laws and regulations relating to trademark, copyright, patent and customs protection; it will also draft and revise six judicial interpretations, according to government sources.

Simone expressed concern that "the action plan does not provide for possible amendment of the PRC Criminal Code. This is the law that sets out criminal sanctions for IP offences, including particularly trademark, counterfeiting and copyright piracy."

"The Code contains a number of obvious gaps, some of which arguably fail to comply with China's obligations under the World Trade Organization's TRIPS (trade-related aspects of intellectual property rights) Agreement," he said.

The Chinese government says IPR law enforcement efforts will be a major area of the plan and will include seven dedicated campaigns with code names such as "Mountain Eagle," "Sunshine" and "Blue Sky" -- plus eight regular enforcement initiatives and 20 supplementary measures.

"There is clearly an intention by the authorities to increase enforcement of IP rights through the police, and this is perhaps the top request of foreign industry over the last few years," Simone said.

"However, the government has not clarified whether it is committed to increasing its manpower and other resources for police action. Without substantially increased resources, industry has doubts about just how effective these efforts will be," he noted.

Other parts of the IPR Acton Plan for 2006 include a center for reporting complaints and violations, and publicizing law enforcement data.

The Chinese government says the focus of international cooperation will be on legislation and trademark/copyright/patent and customs protection, with 19 exchange programs -- including seven with U.S. organizations.

The announcement of increased efforts by Beijing on IPR comes at a time of increased concern in Washington, and just ahead of Chinese president Hu Jintao's state visit slated for the second half of April.

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