An effective anti-piracy campaign needs the all-out support of copyright holders, Chinese officials said.

"The owners of proprietary products are encouraged to play more active roles in co-operating with the government on piracy crackdowns," said Shen Rengan, deputy director of the State Copyright Bureau, the country's highest copyright administrative body.

"They could help stimulate the process by giving clues and providing hard evidence, which is crucial in anti-piracy crackdown," Shen added. Both Chinese and foreign companies should get involved, he said.

Given priority to cracking down on the sources of piracy, the Copyright Bureau has snuffed out 80 underground piracy production lines since 1995, said Xu Chao, a vice-director with the bureau. He said his agency would give more attention to copyright holders.

Adobe Systems Inc of the United States is one example of a copyright holder willing to co-operate with officials.

Adobe, a software maker, published a piracy denouncement in the Economic Daily in July after finding rampant piracy of its products.

Pirated software has crowded out nearly 99 per cent of Adobe's leading software, Photoshop, said Jordan Pi, a regional manager in Adobe's Beijing Office.

Abode had a law firm gather piracy evidence in Shanghai and Beijing. The company is ready to go to court because its newspaper announcement had little effect, Pi said.

Shen said he appreciates Adobe's practical measures to combat piracy.

"Copyright holders should enhance their awareness of self-protection," Shen said. "Some producers of computer software are not confident about the piracy crackdown and have simply kept silent when their rights were breached, which has made our task more challenging."

As an anti-piracy measure, Shen suggested that computer software producers lower their prices to discourage Chinese consumers from buying cheap knock-offs.

The recent brisk sales of Chinese software Kingsoft's Electronic Dictionary 2000 indicates that Shen's suggestion is not groundless.

The electronic dictionary sells for 28 yuan (US$3.40), down from a more traditional price of 168 yuan (US$ 28). Kingsoft sold tens of thousands of copies in a couple of days.

Chinese officials have realized that the nation's software industry can hardly develop if they allow rampant piracy.

"Anti-piracy efforts are absolutely beneficial to us without a touch of harm," Shen added.

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