WTO Inquiry to Examine Counterfeiting in China

Wall Street Journal Online ^ | September 26, 2007 | Associated Press

[1rudeboy]

Complaint by U.S. Cites Lax Enforcement Of Antipiracy Efforts

GENEVA -- The World Trade Organization opened a formal investigation into allegations China is providing a haven for product piracy and counterfeiting, the most far-reaching of four trade disputes between Washington and Beijing.

The U.S. complaint over China's enforcement of intellectual-property rights is the culmination of years of agitation in Washington and elsewhere over one of the world's biggest sources of illegally copied goods, ranging from DVDs, CDs and designer clothes to sporting goods and medications.

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The WTO panel's scope will be limited to whether Beijing has taken sufficient action to protect intellectual-property rights, but it could ultimately authorize U.S. trade sanctions against China worth billions of dollars annually -- the amount the U.S. claims its companies lose because of China's alleged lax enforcement. Such a panel often takes years to reach a final decision.

[1rudeboy]

Nice job if you can get one, at the WTO that is . . . the U.S. has been complaining to the WTO since probably 2004 about China's IP violations, and the WTO is just now getting around to opening its investigation.

[sweetiepiezer]

Thanks for posting.

[JACKRUSSELL]

”Made in China” Ping.

(Please FReepmail me if you would like to be on or off of the list.)

[sergeantdave]

“... the U.S. has been complaining to the WTO since probably 2004 about China’s IP violations,..”

Move your date back a couple of decades -

Throughout the 1980’s and 1990’s, China received both praise and condemnation. regarding its IP laws. ...

chineseflagship.osu.edu/ph/2005/davidgoodman/8.pdf

[1rudeboy]

I was thinking more of the US' first formal complaint to the WTO, but I know what you mean.