A Beijing court gave a verdict Tuesday supporting a first-instance judgment on eight suspects in a piracy case, considered the largest since the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949.The principal defendant, Zhao Chunguang, was sentenced into prison for six and half years and fined 1.5 million yuan ($237,985) for copyright infringement, and others were sentenced to one to four years' imprisonment, according to the verdict from Beijing No 3 Intermediate People's Court.The National Office Against Pornographic and Illegal Publications received an anonymous tip-off on a storehouse with pirated children's books in Songzhuang, Tongzhou district in June 2016.Beijing law enforcement officers launched a joint investigation, which found that Zhao Chunguang, his father Zhao Shuben, his cousin Zhao Junhao and a hired worker Xing Libin took part in producing and selling pirated books from 2015 to Sept 2016.Officers found eight storehouses in Tongzhou and Changyang districts, storing more than 3.6 million books in 1,800 types, including 3.28 million pirated books. Most of the pirated books were popular children's books.Some of the pirated books were sold online, most sold for 1.2 to 1.6 yuan each to booksellers Zhang Yuchen and Wang Fenxia at a book market in Chaoyang district. The books were then sold for 1.7 to 4 yuan.During the investigation, Zhao Chunguang escaped to his hometown in Central China's Henan province, where Su Jinxue and Zhang Ruiming helped him hide in a community in Kaifeng."These fake books are harmful to children's physical and mental health due to dangerous printing ink, rough printing materials and misprints," said Wang Haihong, the presiding judge."Pirated books have disturbed the sound order of the market and threatened the market status of legal books," Wang added. "We must crack down on the illegal actions and strengthen the intellectual property rights protection." custom id braceletscustomized silicone braceletspersonalized heart braceletrubber bracelets animalsrubber bracelets cheap
