The organizers of the Shanghai World Expo have launched a campaign to protect the logo and images of the expo. The move came ahead of the the "World Intellectual Property Rights Day" which falls on Saturday.

Our correspondent Zhou Jing reports from Shanghai.

Since the Expo mascot Haibao was unveiled in December of last year, more than 500 different types of products with the Expo logo and the mascot image have been developed and sold in 23 authorized stores in Shanghai and Beijing. Total revenues from the products have reached 30 million yuan, or around 4.4 million US dollars as of this March.

However, the expo organizers have also discovered and dealt with 20 cases of vendors selling counterfeit Expo products in Shanghai and neighboring cities, including a case in Shanghai's famous scenic spot the Yuyuan Garden and another at the Shanghai Ocean Aquarium.

Zhou Hanmin is the deputy director general of the Shanghai World Expo Coordination Bureau.

"We hope our impact on IPR protection for Expo products will help to build a good IPR protection environment throughout the whole society."

The organizers promise that the protection of the intellectual property rights and images that belong to this grand Shanghai event will be one of the main tasks for this year. But an expert on IPR protection from Shanghai University Tao Xinliang says it's a battle that must be fought by everyone in the society.

"With the approach of the 2010 World Expo, more Expo related products will be designed and put on sale. It's only natural that the number of counterfeit cases will also increase both in Shanghai and elsewhere. We need to make a society wide effort. We need more IPR protection volunteers and consumers who feel obligated to not buy fake products."

The Internet is also a key battle field for IPR protection, and the organizers have already teamed up with Taobao and Eachnet, two major online auction systems in China, to fight against IPR violations. Although at this time there are no official online retail stores, the organizers say they would love to learn from the Beijing Olympics and find ways to sell their official products online in 2009.

Intellectual property rights or IPR has been an issue of great concern for the participants during the Expo preparations. Organizers released the Outlines for IPR Protection for the Shanghai Expo last year, which outlines 10 measures for protecting the participants' Intellectual Property Rights.

Zhou Jing, CRI News, Shanghai.