By An Baijie

Intellectual property officials pledged Thursday that steps would be taken to protect intellectual property rights during the World Expo 2010 in Shanghai amid concerns that the event icons are suspiciously similar to existing items produced overseas.

The pledge came two days before tomorrow's grand opening of the 2010 Expo and officials said the Expo Organizing Committee should not be criticized over plagiarism concerns.

The event's promotional song, "Right here waiting for you 2010," which was jointly performed by a group of celebrities such as Hong Kong movie star Jackie Chan, was described as similar to a Japanese song "Stay the way you are," which was composed by Mayo Okamoto in 1996.

The song was pulled last week in what organizers explained as copyright concerns, according to the event's official website.

Xu Chao, an official from the copyright management department of the National Copyright Administration (NCA), said Thursday that the song's composer, Miao Sen, was at fault but not the Expo Organizing Committee.

The Kyodo News Agency reported on April 20 that the Japanese music composer approved the Shanghai World Expo Organizing Committee to use her song.

"The NCA had a lot of difficulty judging whether the promotional song of the Shanghai Expo copied others because the criteria to judge whether the melody is similar is complex," Xu said.

"But even if the promotional song was confirmed as a pirate, it is the composer of the song that should be blamed, not the organizing committee," he added.

In addition to the promotional song, a US radio journalist raised allegations that the event's mascot, Haibao, a blue character, looks too similar to green clay animation figure Gumby who starred in the popular US television program for several years.

The journalist also described the China Pavilion as a copy of the Japan Pavilion seen at the Seville Expo in 1992.

Hong Hao, chief of the Bureau of the Shanghai Expo, said earlier that intellectual property rights allegations should be handled in accordance with related laws and regulations.

Gan Shaoning, deputy head of the State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO), said at a news conference Thursday that the authorities have worked out a special mechanism for the protection of copyright of Shanghai Expo products.

"The State Administration for Industry and Commerce (SAIC) and the Shanghai government have jointly signed cooperative agreements on promoting intellectual property rights protection for the event," Gan said.

A special hotline, 12300, was set up for that purpose, he said.

Xu said the General Administration of Press and Publication and the NCA would stop copyright infringements as soon as possible upon receiving reports.

Xu also confirmed to the Global Times Thursday that in order to protect the copyright of films, the NCA has granted the Movie Copyright Association (MCA) permission to charge fees from Internet bars to use movies.

"The standard for the royalty could be discussed by the MCA and the Internet bar owners, and the NCA just plays a role to monitor the process," Xu said.

But Gan admitted that there is still a long way to go before the public embrace the concept of intellectual property protection.

As many as 2,119 people were arrested for intellectual infringements in 1,256 cases last year, according to State Intellectual Property Office.