China is taking yet another stab at showing a sceptical world that it is tackling copyright piracy, a problem that costs US business alone an estimated $250 billion a year in lost sales.
There are even text messages from the government urging people to report pirated goods on a special telephone hotline, and state newspapers this week published pictures of officials showing people how to identify fake DVDs.
The trouble is, despite protestations from top leaders that this time Beijing means it and laws will be enforced, the world is not convinced.
"They're not implementing it and they're not stopping it," said Digby Jones, head of the CBI, the leading lobby group for British business on national and international issues.
"That's not healthy for the Chinese economy in the long run actually and it's not healthy for the Western world's trust and understanding and co-operation with China," he told reporters in Beijing this week.
On Friday, the English-language China Daily, often used by the government to post its messages to the outside world, quoted Science Minister Xu Guanhua as saying Chinese firms have paid out $1 billion in compensation over piracy since 2001.
The previous day, its front page boldly announced the latest initiative against piracy.
Stalls selling fake goods should be cleared away, illegal production lines smashed and police should punish each violation according to law, the newspaper said.
Yet shops selling the latest Hollywood releases on DVD for less than $1 are still doing brisk business in Beijing, sometimes right under the noses of the police.
"Clearly, there's not a comprehensive, systemic approach to retail counterfeits," said Chris Israel, US Co-ordinator for International Intellectual Property Enforcement and Washington's point man on piracy.
ADDING TO TENSIONS: Piracy adds to tension over the US trade gap with China, which reached $202 billion in 2005, and further poisons relations already strained over US complaints China unfairly keeps its currency weak to help bolster exports.
Outgoing US Trade Representative Rob Portman has warned that Washington could haul China to the World Trade Organisation unless it does more to reduce intellectual property theft. But others point to small areas of success as a sign that piracy is something that can be tackled in China,
This week, US-based MPEG LA, which acts as a one-stop shop for patent holders of technology used to make DVD players, signed a memorandum after six years of talks to encourage Chinese companies to pay the proper royalties on copyright designs.
But there is still no obligation for them to sign up, MPEG LA Chief Executive Larry Horn told Reuters. "We try to persuade them through the principle of fairness," Horn said.
"We have no enforcement authority of our own. If somebody doesn't want to take the licence it's only our patent holders who can enforce their patents," he added. "It's risk evaluation."
And Microsoft Corp's chief technical officer, Craig Mundie, this week praised a Chinese decision to order Chinese computer makers to pre-load legal software in their machines. "This is a long road, but this is certainly the largest single step that has ever been advanced in this journey in China," he said.
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