AN event to help Bury companies take measures to prevent their products being copied certainly proved to be the real thing.

Business Link North Manchester staged the event at the Village Hotel, Bury, in response to a growing demand from local businesses to find out more about Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) issues in China.

The theme of the half-day event, which was well attended, was on managing these rights and measures that can be put into place to protect companies against IPR risk.

Philomena Chen, Asia Pacific manager at Business Link North Manchester, said: "Many companies who are considering or who are already exporting to China have a fear that their products will be copied.

'According to research by the Chinese State Council, foreign and Chinese companies lose tens of billions of pounds every year to counterfeiting activities in the People's Republic of China."

She added: "Businesses need to know what measures are in place to protect companies against IPR risk. Some key questions are whether Chinese law can help and what can UK businesses do to put more pressure on the Chinese authorities."

Firms wishing to know more about exporting to China and other countries should contact Business Link North Manchester on 0845 608 3388.