BEIJING — China has taken steps to better protect intellectual property rights (IPR) as part of its larger effort to create a more innovative economy.

Chinese police solved 17,000 cases involving IPR infringement worth 4.6 billion yuan ($670 million) in 2016, Shen Changyu, head of the State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO), said at a news conference on April 25.

Customs authorities seized more than 17,000 shipments of goods suspected of IPR infringement in 2016, Shen noted. The courts heard 136,500 IPR cases in 2016, a 24.8 percent increase.

Industry and commerce regulators increased online supervision and inspection in rural markets that are prone to counterfeits.

They solved nearly 50,000 IPR cases worth about 560 million yuan, and transferred 293 cases worth 160 million yuan to courts in 2016, said Liu Junchen, deputy director of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce.

The copyright watchdog has investigated 5,578 cases involving internet IPR infringement and shut down 3,079 websites since 2005, said Yu Cike, director of the copyright management department under the National Copyright Administration.