WTO Case vs. China Urged by US Copyright Industries

The International Intellectual Property Alliance (IIPA) reported that widespread piracy cost them $2.5 billion in 2004, while US industry estimates that about 90% of US-produced music, movies, and software sold in China is pirated.

As a result, the IIPA has asked the Bush Administration, through the US Trade Representative's Office, to ask China for immediate consultations at the World Trade Organization on the problem. This is viewed as a preliminary step in seeking a WTO panel ruling on whether China was meeting its commitments to significantly reduce piracy.

USTR Spokesman Richard Mills said, "As part of a comprehensive enforcement strategy of bilateral negotiations and international efforts to stop trade in fakes, USTR is now conducting a systematic legal review of China's entire IPR enforcement system."

"Our objective is to persuade the Chinese government that they must take real, not rhetorical, deterrent enforcement action that…significantly reduces the rampant piracy that afflicts their entire country," IIPA President Eric Smith said in a statement.

A WTO complaint against China for piracy would be the second case filed by the U.S. since the country joined the WTO in December 2001. The first complaint involved obstacles to imports of US-made semiconductors.

(Source: Business World, 11 February 2005, p. 19)