China Declares 6-Month Piracy Crackdown : Trade: The action is in line with what Beijing promised the United States last month.

China announced a nationwide crackdown Thursday against intellectual property piracy, in line with what it promised in an accord last month with the United States.

The move is the first by China since it signed an anti-counterfeiting draft accord with the United States on Feb. 26 in Beijing. The pact mandates a six-month special enforcement period with multi-agency raids on firms and individuals suspected of making or selling counterfeit software, movies, recorded music, books and other copyrighted, patented or trademarked material.

The State Council, China’s Cabinet, issued the directive, the New China News Agency said.

“Illegal activities must be tracked down and harsh punishment must be imposed on those who violate laws on the protection of intellectual property,” the directive says. The crackdown is scheduled to end Aug. 31.

The crackdown is actually an extension of an anti-piracy sweep launched at the start of the year, New China said. The directive warns that every business suspected of involvement in piracy at any level will be inspected.

“Strong action will be taken against places where bogus products are made, circulated and sold,” New China quoted the circular as saying.

Under terms of the 11th-hour deal that headed off the imposition of more than $2 billion in tit-for-tat sanctions last month, Beijing agreed to start a six-month sweep March 1.

U.S. Trade Representative Mickey Kantor is due in Beijing today and is scheduled to sign the final agreement Saturday. He will have talks with his Beijing counterpart, Wu Yi, who led last month’s talks for the Chinese.

In an attempt to make the most of the situation before the crackdown, sales of pirated software reached a fever pitch in Beijing in the week after U.S. and Chinese officials reached their agreement.

The State Council has urged industrial enterprises, research institutes and universities to protect their own intellectual property rights and to respect those of others, and it ordered action to strengthen law enforcement and make penalties more severe.

However, the “hacker market” at the Zhongguancun computer district in Beijing’s university area was busy this week.

On Monday, the Cloudy Sky Software Data Exchange Center was offering for $22 a CD-ROM with 650 megabytes of software from Microsoft, Lotus and other U.S. giants. The software would have a retail value of about $20,000.

“Protect intellectual property rights,” a flyer from Cloudy Sky said. “New measures take effect soon, so stock up now. Once the last bus leaves, it’s a great opportunity lost.”