The Chinese government has pledged to strengthen the courts’ role in cracking down on infringements of intellectual property rights (IPR). “The current protection of IPR relies heavily on administrative measures, which are fast and efficient but need to be improved,” Jiang Zengwei, Vice Minister of Commerce, said. “In the future, China will draw lessons from Western countries and place more emphasis on dealing with these cases in court. We will simplify the process and make it more efficient while cutting the cost,” he added. Jiang said Chinese police have arrested 9,031 suspects in a nine-month campaign aimed at cracking down on piracy and other infringements of intellectual property rights. In the campaign, police closed 12,854 underground factories that had made pirated and fake products and broke up 4,904 gangs that had sold such goods, said Jiang. Other administrative agencies have investigated 156,000 similar cases, in which the money involved came to nearly CNY3.43 billion. They have also closed more than 9,130 illegal plants where pirated and counterfeit goods had been produced. During the recent nine-month campaign, China’s courts were presented with 2,492 cases involving intellectual property rights and adjudicated 1,985 cases, Jiang said. Led by the Ministry of Commerce, 26 departments published the results of their efforts to crack down on IPR violations from October to June in an online exhibition. The manufacture of fake luxury-brands is one of the most widespread violations, according to the exhibition.

China’s economy grew 9.5% in the second quarter from the same period a year earlier, its slowest pace in nearly two years as government attempts to cool growth took effect. There were few signs however that the world’s second-largest economy faces the “hard landing” that some have predicted.The pace of growth in the second quarter represented a mild slowdown from the 9.7% annual increase in the first quarter. Retail sales growth rebounded to 17.7% in June from a year earlier, up from 16.9% in May. Industrial output also surged in June, growing 15.1% from a year earlier, up from 13.3% growth in May. “China’s slower economic growth is in line with the central government’s target of cooling the economy and restructuring it,” said National Bureau of Statistics Spokesman Sheng Laiyun. Industrial output expanded 14.3% in the first half, down from 2010’s 15.7%. Only fixed-asset investment bucked the trend by gaining 25.6%, up from the pace of 23.8% in 2010 thanks to the affordable housing program. “China should still treat managing inflation as the top priority at the moment,” said Lu Zhengwei, Chief Economist at the Industrial Bank. He said the economy had performed better than expected in the first half, and there was no fear of a hard landing. The disposable income of urban residents rose 13.2% from a year earlier to CNY11,041 through June, while rural residents’ income expanded 20.4% to CNY3,706.

China’s top 500 companies posted a 38% annual rise in revenue in 2010. The Fortune China 500 list showed that China Petroleum and Chemical Corp (Sinopec) remained at the top of the list with revenue of CNY1.9 trillion and net profit of CNY70.7 billion. PetroChina and China Mobile took second and third spots. The total revenue of the top 500 companies amounted to CNY18.9 trillion. Their net profits grew an annual 48% last year. Their revenue accounted for 47% of China’s gross domestic product (GDP) in 2010. Ten of the top 100 firms are privately-run. Lenovo Group, a PC maker which earned CNY143 billion last year, was the largest non state-owned company and listed at No. 22. “State-owned companies are still taking core positions in China’s economy,” said Zheng Zhengwei, Business Director with ECC China, the list’s data provider. “But the largest companies are more obsessed with size than profitability,” he added. The most profitable company on the list is the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) with CNY165 billion in net earnings, followed by PetroChina and China Construction Bank (CCB). Zheng said earnings of the 40 most profitable firms accounted for 71% of the total profits on the list, while the return on equity was 19% for these companies, the Shanghai Daily reports.

Nestlé confirmed it would buy 60% of Chinese confectionery firm Hsu Fu Chi International for USD1.7 billion. The deal still needs China’s regulatory approval under an anti-monopoly review, something that Li Yi, Research Analyst with Euromonitor in Shanghai, thinks is likely as the “deal may further promote consolidation of the overall market.” Guangdong-based Hsu Fu Chi, founded by the Hsu family from Taiwan, is one of China’s leading snack and sugar confectionery makers. Its 16,000 employees work in four factories in China and it generated a sales revenue of USD799 million last year. “Hsu Fu Chi is very strong in its nationwide distribution network, including in third- and fourth-tier cities as well as in rural areas that Nestlé wants to enter,’’ said Li. According to Euromonitor, China’s confectionery market may grow 38% to CNY88 billion by 2015. Hsu Fu Chi was the second largest confectionery maker in China in 2009 with a market share of 4.2%, compared to Mars’s 15.5% and Nestlé’s 1.9%. Nestlé operates 23 factories, two R&D centers and employs 14,000 people in China.

The China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) has reported a third oil spill in the Bohai Bay. Up to 0.15 cubic meters of oil leaked into the water, affecting an area of about one square kilometer. Conoco-Phillips has halted production at two platforms in Bohai Bay that leaked oil into the sea last month at the request of the State Oceanic Administration (SOA). The two platforms have a capacity of 47,000 barrels a day, about a third of the production from the Penglai 19-3 field. ConocoPhillips said the total volume of oil spilled from the Penglai 19-3 Oilfield in is expected to reach about 1,500 barrels. So far, more than 4,240 sq km of coastal waters have been contaminated by the oil leak. The temporary shutdown will be in effect until the risks of another spill are eliminated in accordance with orders from SOA, ConocoPhillips said. The causes of oil spills from China’s largest offshore oilfield remain unidentified six weeks after the first leak, oceanic authorities say. They warn that more spills are possible.