More than 73 million pirated products were confiscated by copyright administrative authorities in 2006, a spokesman for the State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO) said Tuesday.

The confiscated products include more than 18 million pirated books, 1.1 million periodicals, 48 million audio-visual products, 2.01 million electronic publications and 3.79 million software discs, spokesman Yin Xintian said at a press conference.

Customs offices across the country investigated and handled a total of 2,473 intellectual property infringement cases in 2006, involving nearly 200 million items of goods valued at more than 200 million yuan (US$25.6 million).

Yin said there was a remarkable growth in patent applications and patents granted in 2006.

Statistics show that the SIPO received a total of 573,000 patent applications in 2006, an increase of 20 percent over 2005. A total of 268,000 patents were granted, up 25 percent on the previous year.

(Xinhua News Agency April 17, 2007)