BEIJING, April 25 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese official has criticized some foreign media's accusations about China's weak protection of intellectual property rights (IPR) as a practice of groundless "labelling."
If they had based their comments on the facts, they may have changed their views, said Tian Lipu, director of the State Intellectual Property Office, at a press conference on Thursday.
"It is a paradox that when China is being blamed by overseas media for its poor IPR protection efforts, it remains attractive to many foreign enterprises and investment," Tian said.
"A clear fact is that China has been receiving a large number of patent and trademark registration applications from foreign enterprises, and to my knowledge, the growth rate of foreigners' new patent applications in China is much higher than the international average," Tian said.
"Moreover, China has been a considerable source of foreign companies' profits in the forms of patent, trademark and copyright royalties, a fact that was largely neglected in media reports," the official added.
In 2012, Tian said, more than 17,200 cases of suspected criminal IPR violations were transferred from police to procuratorial agencies in China and have concluded trials in 12,794 relevant cases.
Police also closed 44,000 cases related to counterfeit goods last year, he said.
Moreover, copyright authorities have investigated and handled 282 cases related to online piracy and IPR violations and shut down 129 implicated websites, Tian said.
China has been making continuous efforts in IPR protection, the official said, also noting that IPR protection is a complicated task that demands long-lasting and collaborative efforts.
"IPR-related problems in China are not the most serious in the world, and IPR protection requires that all countries be more cooperative and less querulous," Tian said. 
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