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China and U.S. Accept WTO Settlement on Intellectual Property
Last week both China and the United States accepted a final decision of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Dispute Settlement Body in a case over the protection of intellectual property rights initiated in 2007 by the United Sates. The U.S. alleged that China was failing to implement enforcement measures in accordance with its obligations under the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) agreement.
The WTO decision was split, with both states achieving some success. The Panel found that China did violate TRIPS by refusing copyright protection for media not approved for sale by state censors, and by public sales of counterfeit goods from which a trade-mark was merely removed. However, the Panel rejected allegations that China was failing to enforce criminal copyright protection laws and that the threshold for enforcement of these criminal sanctions was too high.
The acceptance of the WTO decision by both governments means that the matter will not be appealed by either nation. The onus will now shift to China to report on how it intends to implement the Panel’s recommendations.
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http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSTRE52J3T920090320