The beginnings of protectionism?
DJ US Presses China For Info On Intellectual Property Rights
By Elizabeth Price
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
WASHINGTON (Dow Jones)--The Bush administration has again asked China to provide more information about its efforts to enforce intellectual property rights.
This second request, outlined in a letter to China's Ambassador to the World Trade Organization dated Jan. 20, follows up one made by the U.S. Trade Representative's office in October. The USTR then gave China a Jan. 23 deadline to respond.
Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Peter Allgeier, in the letter responding to questions from the Chinese government, laid out a legal rationale for why the U.S. believes China must provide details on intellectual property rights enforcement cases.
"My government wishes to work cooperatively with yours to enhance mutual understanding of those issues, and we hope that you will take advantage of the opportunity to do so," Allgeier said in the letter released by the USTR.
In October, U.S. trade officials invoked a rarely used WTO procedure that requires the Chinese government to outline the steps it is taking to comply with international trade rules on intellectual property. U.S. trade officials said they wanted more information in the hopes of pinpointing deficiencies in China's enforcement regime and correcting them. Should China fail to show progress in curbing rampant piracy and counterfeiting, the White House -now under intense pressure from members of Congress concerned about the issue - could ask for a WTO panel to settle the dispute.
Intellectual property enforcement has long been a sore point in the U.S.-China trade relationship. Last year, the U.S. put China on its "Priority Watch" list for patent and copyright violations, a first step in a long process that could eventually result in trade sanctions.
Chinese officials have told the U.S. they have prosecuted thousands of cases of intellectual property violations. The U.S. is seeking information about these cases in six areas: the legal basis for the claim; the types of remedies imposed; timing and location of the enforcement actions; whether cases were transferred to criminal authorities; whether rights holders were foreign or Chinese; and the types of products involved.
In the letter, Allgeier said the USTR is concerned about Chinese statements noting that the relevant section of the international agreement on intellectual property, or the TRIPS Agreement, refers to a member's right to request information but makes no mention of another member's requirement to respond to those requests.
"We assure you that our request was made in good faith and a spirit of cooperation, and we look forward to China's full response in the same spirit," Allgeier told the Chinese.
-By Elizabeth Price, Dow Jones Newswires; 202-862-9295; Elizabeth.Price@dowjones.com |
