BEIJING - A total of 2,176 suspects were arrested for intellectual property rights (IPR) infringements in China in the first half of 2013, the Supreme People's Procuratorate (SPP) said Thursday.

Procuratorates nationwide prosecuted 3,805 people involved in 2,253 IPR violation cases in the same period, according to the SPP.

The SPP said IPR-related crimes have increased gradually and trademark infringement has become the most serious violation, accounting for 80 percent of the total cases.

The difficulty in cracking down on IPR violations has increased as sophisticated means are being deployed by suspects, said the SPP, adding that IPR crimes committed in economically-developed regions remain at a high level.

Procuratorates across the nation arrested 19,786 suspects in 11,723 cases concerning IPR infringement, and prosecuted 29,481 people involved in 17,062 cases from 2008 to 2012, the SPP said.