The Chinese government announced, late last year, that 2011 will be the year of strict enforcement of intellectual property law in the world’s largest People's Republic. After many years of complaints by the international community about the poor state of intellectual property enforcement in China, a wind of change was promised. 

Early this year we reported on this site that the Chinese authorities are indeed taking the combat against illegal DVDs, books and software ruthlessly serious. In the month of January alone, 5.2 million copied DVDs and CDs were seized and destroyed. Since the start of the nationwide campaign against counterfeit goods in November 2010, many goods are confiscated and burned. In addition, fines totalling over 3.4 million Yuan (nearly 400,000 euros) were imposed. The prospect of draconian measures in their sector made dozens of Chinese file-sharing sites decide to thrown in the towel beforehand.

The Chinese government said in early January that counterfeiting in other sectors will be addressed too, this year. Besides illegal DVDs, China is also notorious for the large volumes clothes, bags and shoes that are counterfeited annually.

Now it is almost April, I was wondering whether the strict enforcement is maintained. This appears to be the case. A friend that currently stays in China told me that the police regularly hold raids and inspections at sites that are notorious for trade in counterfeit goods.

One of those places is the Hongqiao Pearl Market in Shanghai, where up until recently you could find a new iPhone, Louboutin shoes or a Louis Vuitton bag for a fraction of the normal price. This week, the assortment of goods offered at the Hongqiao market was suddenly reduced by more than half and merchants seemed to be selling Chinese brands and tourist t-shirts only.

Perhaps the Chinese will now be able to present glorious statistics on the battle against counterfeited goods on April 26, the "World Intellectual Property Day" organized by WIPO.