US threatens to revive WTO piracy suit against China

WASHINGTON – The United States on Thursday threatened to revive a bid to drag China to the WTO over copyright piracy if bilateral talks sought by Beijing to fend off the action do not achieve a breakthrough.

Under pressure from Congress, the administration of President George W Bush over the past year has been working to prepare a case challenging China’s compliance with its World Trade Organisation (WTO) obligations in the area of intellectual property rights enforcement. Last October, Washington informed China that it would be filing such a case, but then agreed to hold off, with the support of US businesses, when Beijing asked for further bilateral discussion to address the American concerns.No settlement has been reached so far.”We are consulting with Congress and with industry on next steps,” Deputy US Trade Representative Karan Bhatia told a Congressional hearing on China Thursday.”If we believe that negotiations offer a reasonable chance of success, we will continue to pursue them – a successfully negotiated outcome can be more efficient and as successful as a litigated outcome,” he said.”But if it becomes clear that negotiations will not be successful, then we will proceed with WTO dispute settlement,” Bhatia said as legislators attacked China over what they saw as increasing infringement of intellectual property rights.Speaking to reporters later, Bhatia said there were a number of issues being discussed with China in relation to enforcement, “but the bottom line, what we want to see, is improvement on the ground.”The US believes it had “a very strong case” to bring against China, he said.The US has filed two WTO cases against China so far and none of them relate to copyright piracy.Nampa-AFPLast October, Washington informed China that it would be filing such a case, but then agreed to hold off, with the support of US businesses, when Beijing asked for further bilateral discussion to address the American concerns.No settlement has been reached so far.”We are consulting with Congress and with industry on next steps,” Deputy US Trade Representative Karan Bhatia told a Congressional hearing on China Thursday.”If we believe that negotiations offer a reasonable chance of success, we will continue to pursue them – a successfully negotiated outcome can be more efficient and as successful as a litigated outcome,” he said.”But if it becomes clear that negotiations will not be successful, then we will proceed with WTO dispute settlement,” Bhatia said as legislators attacked China over what they saw as increasing infringement of intellectual property rights.Speaking to reporters later, Bhatia said there were a number of issues being discussed with China in relation to enforcement, “but the bottom line, what we want to see, is improvement on the ground.”The US believes it had “a very strong case” to bring against China, he said.The US has filed two WTO cases against China so far and none of them relate to copyright piracy.Nampa-AFP