United States Files WTO Cases Against China

ustr.gov, May 07, 2007

U.S. Trade Representative Susan C. Schwab announced today that the United States will make two requests tomorrow for World Trade Organization (WTO) dispute settlement consultations with the People’s Republic of China: one over deficiencies in China’s legal regime for protecting and enforcing copyrights and trademarks on a wide range of products, and the other over China’s barriers to trade in books, music, videos and movies.

"Piracy and counterfeiting levels in China remain unacceptably high,” Ambassador Schwab said.  “Inadequate protection of intellectual property rights in China costs U.S. firms and workers billions of dollars each year, and in the case of many products, it also poses a serious risk of harm to consumers in China, the United States and around the world.  We acknowledge that China’s leadership has made the protection of intellectual property rights a priority and has taken active steps to improve IPR protection and enforcement.  However, while the United States and China have been able to work cooperatively and pragmatically on a range of IPR issues, and China has taken numerous steps to improve its protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights, we have not been able to agree on several important changes to China’s legal regime that we believe are required by China’s WTO commitments.  Because bilateral dialogue has not resolved our concerns, we are taking the next step by requesting WTO consultations.  We will continue to welcome dialogue with China in an effort to resolve these issues.  We also look forward to continuing fruitful bilateral discussions with China on other important IPR matters we have been working on together, since achieving comprehensive IPR protection requires concerted efforts on many fronts.  Ultimately, it is in the best interest of all nations, including China, to protect intellectual property rights.” Read more at ustr.gov.