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Chamber Calls for Additional Progress from China on IPR
Recognizes China's Efforts to Improve Counterfeiting & Piracy Protection

 

WASHINGTON, DC-The U.S. Chamber today announced its support for the U.S. government's formal complaint with the World Trade Organization (WTO) over China's lack of piracy enforcement and market access for copyrighted materials.
 
"China's announcement last week to crack down on intellectual property (IP) cases is a step in the right direction, but levels of counterfeiting and piracy in the market remain at unacceptably high levels, especially in the areas of books, music, videos, and movies," said Myron Brilliant, the Chamber's vice president for Asia. "WTO disputes are part of the normal process for resolving good-faith disagreements between countries, and we are optimistic that both governments will continue to work to expand cooperation and achieve further progress on IP and market access challenges."

 

In recent years, China's central government has improved efforts to address intellectual property rights protection and enforcement shortcomings and has raised the general awareness of the importance of IPR. These efforts have yielded some results-but the measures instituted by the government of the People's Republic of China to tackle counterfeiting and piracy challenges have not kept pace with the scope and depth of the problem and China's rapidly growing economy.

 

"Even as we support our government in its case before the WTO, the Chamber is actively engaged with China's government and the Chinese business community to promote best practices in the areas of innovation, IPR protection, and enforcement," said Brilliant. "The U.S. Chamber's efforts to work with Chinese authorities at the national, provincial, and local levels illustrate the business community's commitment to building a stronger relationship with positive results."

 

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is the world's largest business federation, representing more than 3 million businesses of every size, sector, and region.

 

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