Although China has relatively sound legislation on intellectual property rights, as required by the World Trade Organisation, enforcing them to combat piracy was a different matter, said Si Weijiang, one of the mainland's top IPR lawyers.
'If law enforcement is lax, China will be criticised by the international community; it will also hurt the mainland's burgeoning hi-tech enterprises,' he said.
'But if they tighten the crackdown too much, many bootleg producers and vendors selling such products will lose their jobs, and that will harm social stability. The anti-piracy campaign is also bad news for large domestic enterprises, some of which are also infringing rights.'
Si recalled one of his early cases, in which he represented a senior composer suing the mineral water giant Wahaha for using the three characters Wa Ha Ha without the composer's consent in 2000. Guo Shifu said he had written a Uygur-style children's song in the 1950s and named it Wahaha, which became popular nationwide.
Si said one of the curiosities about the case was that Wahaha presented some calligraphy by state leaders - such as then premier Zhu Rongji, who had visited the company - to the court in its defence.
A Shanghai court ruled in favour of Wahaha, which tried to make amends by offering him 30,000 yuan for his 'contribution to China's music field'. Guo rejected the offer.