China targeted by US piracy initiative at WTO

From The South China Morning Post, via AsiaMedia: WTO pressures China to create a tougher intellectual property regime.

Washington yesterday announced a new initiative at the World Trade Organisation to bring Beijing to heel over “rampant” copyright abuses.

Backed by Japan and Switzerland, the office of US Trade Representative Rob Portman said it had launched a special WTO process to obtain information on China’s protection of intellectual property rights.

“The United States is deeply concerned by the violations of intellectual property rights in China,” Mr Portman said in the statement. “The development of intellectual property is one of the driving forces of US economic competitiveness, and we will utilise all tools at our disposal to ensure that US intellectual property rights are protected.