A total of 34 people were found guilty of piracy offences in the Chinese courts, and have been handed down sentences ranging from temporary detention to six and a half years imprisonment.

Twenty-four people were imprisoned in eight newly concluded cases involving copyright tort, among which seven were related to production and selling of pirated disks, according to a statement from the National Office Against Pornographic and Illegal Publication on Saturday.

The office periodically publicizes major cases involving copyright infringement and illegal publications.

In one case, Gong Yubin, on charges of copyright infringement and selling pornographic products, was sentenced by a local court to six and a half years in prison, plus a fine of 53,000 yuan ($8,400). Police seized 498,000 pirated disks in his illegal shop.

Chen Chunfa was given six years in prison for copyright infringement offenses and fined 3 million yuan, or $475,000, the heaviest fine of the eight cases.

Three cases among the eight were investigated according to the reports given by members of the public, according to the office.

In 2011, law enforcement authorities seized a total of 52 million copies of pirated, pornographic and illegal publications, according to the office.

(Xinhua News Agency April 22, 2012)