Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Technology Stocks : Qualcomm Moderated Thread - please read rules before posting -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: John Biddle who wrote (33219)	3/7/2003 6:50:18 AM
From: John Biddle	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 196683

'WIPI' Seed for Bilateral Feud Over Intellectual Property Rights By Kim Kyu-tae& Kim In-jin, Friday, March 07, 2003 etienglish.com Claiming that 'WIPI,' a standard wireless Internet platform pushed by the Korean government, violated its intellectual property rights, Sun Microsystems filed a petition with the U.S. Trade Representatives (USTR) calling for designating Korea as the 'Priority Watch List' in accordance with 'Special Article 301.' Coming on the heels of unfair trade controversy raised by Qualcomm, the 'WIPI' case is now escalated to the bilateral dispute over the breach of the rights between Seoul and Washington. Refer to pages 1 and 6 of the Feb. 14 printed edition. According to an exclusive source obtained by the paper on Mar. 6, it is confirmed that Sun Microsystems officially presented documents appealing the USTR to take countermeasures against the Seoul government for trespassing on the intellectual property rights of 'WIPI' on Feb. 14. These papers were provided one day after officials from the Ministry of Information and Communications (MOIC) and Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI) visited and entered negotiations with the USTR. If 'WIPI' is forcibly imposed on mobile phone service providers, terminal makers and application developers, it is probable that they will end up with either impinging on or misusing its intellectual property rights, Sun insisted. Sun went on to say that there is no shred of doubt that the Korean government actively contravened its copyrights when the Korean government was developing 'WIPI.' It also claimed that Seoul's 'WIPI' runs counter to the WTO agreement. Pointing out the importance of taking steps to stop the operation of 'WIPI' by the U.S. government, Sun Microsystems demanded that Washington upgrade Seoul's intellectual property rights protection status, which is currently stood at 'Watch List,' to the 'Priority Watch List' in the forthcoming publication of the 'Special 301 Article 2002' report next month should Seoul fail to either abort the WIPI activation or agree to the rearrangement. If Korea is classified as the 'Priority Watch List,' its status will be reduced to a backward nation in terms of intellectual property rights. Officials of MOIC remained 'no comment' on their responses to Sun and the USTR preferring not to elaborate as of now. As push comes to shove, however, it is confirmed that Wireless Internet Standardization Forum is having closed-door negotiations with Sun Microsystems. On. Feb. 28, the Forum met and discussed the license issue with Sun. Officials of the forum said, "It is of significance to promote 'WIPI' as the global standard through mobile Java, which is established as the worldwide standard," hinting at sufficient progress being made in the negotiations. The Special 301 Article of the U.S. Trade Law is a special article designed to safeguard intellectual property rights held by the U.S. businesses when they are invaded by trading partners overseas. Under the article, the U.S. government can designate negotiation parties and invoke the right to punish. After categorizing an unfair country under the Special Article 301, punitive measures will be slapped in accordance with the reprisal process under the Regular Article 301.