CHINA/FILE: China says a US complaint to the WTO won't help solve the nation's piracy problems

China says that Washington isn't helping things by filing a complaint about the country's intellectual property rights record to the WTO. Chinese officials blame demanding consumers and advanced technology for its continuing struggle to conquer counterfeiting. A US complaint to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) over China's piracy problem is not helping things, Chinese officials said on Tuesday (April 17). The Bush administration earlier this month filed two complaints against China at the WTO - for the piracy issue and banning market access for U.S. companies looking to sell legitimate products on the mainland. Wang Ziqiang (pron: wahng tzuh chee-ahng), a spokesman for China's National Copyright Administration, told a news conference in Beijing that Washington's complaint was groundless and unhelpful. "Intellectual property rights disputes between China and the US should be solved through dialogue. The U.S. resorting to the WTO over its disputes with China will not help cooperation between the two sides," Wang told a news conference in Beijing. China regularly defends its record on fighting piracy, saying it is a developing country and needs time to tackle the problem. "The Chinese government has put in great effort into taking various measures and action to establish a system for IPR protection. I can say that no country in the world has made more effort than the Chinese government has done," said Yin Xintian (pron: yeen xeen tee-ehn), spokesman for the State Intellectual Property Office. Pirated movies and music discs are openly sold in shops and on street corners in Chinese cities for as little as 8 yuan (about 1 USD) a copy. Yin said that technology advances made the counterfeiting industry hard to crush out completely. "Because technology develops so rapidly, it's far easier now to make illegal copies of books, CD's and movies than before. This is a problem encountered by all countries. The proper way is for countries to cooperate and consult with each other rather than reproaching each other. In doing so, we can solve the problem in a better way," said Yin. While neither official gave a direct explanation for the continued, obvious availability of fake DVDs and designer goods, another said he thought this problem was limited to major cities like Beijing and Shanghai. "Some stores in Beijing have already stopped selling fake goods, but still some people go in asking for them. Then they produce pictures of what they want, and some store owners can't resist the temptation of profits, and they find some other way of providing those fake goods. To crack down on this kind of piracy is much more difficult, because it's conducted in a more hidden way," said Zhao Gang (pron: djah-ow gahng) from the State Administration for Industry and Commerce's Trademark Office. China carries out occasional public crack-downs on piracy. Over 42 million pirated items were destroyed across the nation on China last week in what authorities say was the biggest crackdown on piracy in the past 20 years. But pirated movies and music discs are still openly sold in shops and on street corners in Chinese cities.

ITN Source | April 17, 2007

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