US cites China, Russia over counterfeit and pirated goods

WASHINGTON: The United States on Friday named China and Russia as among the worst protectors of intellectual property rights, flooding global trade with counterfeit items such as DVDs, designer bags, medicines and software.

In an annual report on intellectual property rights protection, the US Trade Representative’s office singled out China and Russia for allegedly failing to respect US patents and copyrights.

The Special 301 Report, named after the section of US law on which it is based, spotlights “one of the central challenges facing the global economy,” US Trade Representative Susan Schwab said.

“Pirates and counterfeiters don’t just steal ideas; they steal jobs, and too often they threaten our health and safety,” the top US trade official said.

The report said US authorities still see “serious” concerns with respect to China and Russia, in spite of some evidence of improvement in both countries.

Schwab’s office announced it would once again retain China on its priority watch list and continue monitoring to maintain pressure on Beijing to improve its intellectual property rights (IPR) situation.

“While the United States continues to seek cooperative channels to work with China to strengthen that country’s IPR regime, high levels of copyright piracy and trademark counterfeiting remain serious concerns,” her office said.

Meanwhile, the US government is also using the World Trade Organization’s dispute settlement process “to address a number of specific deficiencies in China’s IPR regime,” the statement said.

Russia has made some progress in improving its IPR regime, for example in raiding unlicensed factories.

However, large-scale production and distribution of IP-infringing optical media and Internet piracy in Russia “remain significant problems that require more enforcement action.

”China and Russia are among the nine countries on this year’s priority watch list that also includes Argentina, Chile, India, Israel, Pakistan, Thailand and Venezuela. Those countries will be the subject of “particularly intense” bilateral dialogue during the coming year, the USTR said. (AFP)