LATEST NEWS

China’s Anti-Monopoly enforcement agencies named July 21, 2008
Commission cracks down on collecting societies July 21, 2008
eBay not responsible for policing counterfeits, says US court July 21, 2008
European Commission’s IPR strategy focuses on SMEs July 21, 2008
Musicians welcome plan to extend copyright term in Europe July 21, 2008
Payless ordered to stop using American Eagle brand July 21, 2008
Reform dominates list of 50 most influential people July 21, 2008
Taiwan ends compulsory licensing dispute with Philips July 21, 2008

This article is FREE access as part of MIP Week, a weekly email newsletter written by the editors of Managing Intellectual Property magazine. Take a two week trial to MIP and find many more related articles.

China faces WTO panel after talks fail

The US has asked the WTO to set up a panel to hear its IP dispute with China, after talks between the two governments broke down

The US launched long-anticipated proceedings at the WTO against China over its record on enforcing IP rights on April 10. It filed a request for a formal consultation with China, which gave the two sides 60 days in which to resolve their differences.

But on Monday the US Trade Representative said that China had not done enough to assuage its concerns about the level of piracy and counterfeiting in China and said that it had asked the WTO to form a dispute resolution panel to hear the case.

“Over the past several years China has taken tangible steps to improve IPR protection and enforcement. However, we still see important gaps that need to be addressed,” said USTR spokesman Sean Spicer. “We will pursue this legal dispute in the WTO and will continue to work with China bilaterally on other important IPR issues.”

The WTO Dispute Settlement Body will discuss the request at its next meeting, which is scheduled for August 31.

The US government has accused China of failing to fulfil its obligations under the WTO’s TRIPs Agreement. In particular, it says that the quantitative thresholds in China’s criminal law that must be met before officials will file pursue prosecutions for copyright piracy and trade mark counterfeiting are too low to deter would-be infringers.

Second, the US says that Chinese Customs’ rules on disposing of any infringing goods that they seize are too lax, effectively allowing goods to be released on to the market once the fake labels have been removed.

Third, US officials accuse China of making it difficult for copyright owners to protect their movies and music while they are waiting for market approval from Chinese censors.

“Immediate availability of copyright protection is critical to protect new products from pirates, who – unlike legitimate producers – do not wait for the Chinese content review process to be completed,” the USTR said in a statement.

The Chinese government has not issued a formal comment on the latest US move, but ministers and IP officials have already criticized the US for bringing a complaint back in April. At the time, SIPO commissioner Tian Lipu described the action as “not a sensible nor a rational move”.

If the WTO agrees to hear the dispute, it will set up a panel made up of three or five representatives of member states. It will then have up to six months to prepare its report. There is an extensive appeals procedure, but if China is ultimately found to have breached the WTO rules, it will be required to change its policies or face trade sanctions.