US complaints to the World Trade Organization over alleged commercial piracy in China could hurt relations on trade issues, the top envoy on trade with Washington warned yesterday.

 

"It will seriously undermine bilateral cooperation on intellectual property rights (IPR) under the Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade framework, and damage the existing cooperative ties on market access for publications," Vice Premier Wu Yi said at the China High-level Forum on IPR Protection 2007.

 

"It is the first time a WTO member has lodged two complaints simultaneously against another member and it will have a very negative impact."

 

She added that the Chinese government will proactively respond to the US move in line with WTO rules and "see it through to the end."

 

This has been Beijing's strongest response since Washington launched two complaints in early April at the WTO claiming that China was not doing enough to punish illegal copiers of films and music, and that its restrictions on entertainment imports violated trade rules.

 

In seven special crackdowns on IPR infringements last year police filed 863 cases and arrested 988 suspects, while the courts handled 6,441 IPR cases.

 

Moreover, patent, customs and industry and commerce departments handled 17,243 infringement cases involving nearly 1 billion yuan (US$129.5 million).

 

"The US has totally ignored the massive strides China has made," Wu said.

 

She said the US move had betrayed the consensus reached by China and the US to resolve trade issues through dialogue.

 

Wu, who heads the country's economic dialogue with Washington, said Beijing's attitude toward IPR protection has always been resolute, and its achievements obvious.

 

Since the 1970s, China has enacted a succession of protection laws such as the Trademark Law, Patent Law, and Copyright Law.

 

The country has also joined a string of international IPR protection conventions. Last year, the country formally joined the World Intellectual Property Organization Copyright Treaty and the WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty.

 

"We have spent merely 30 years on what some developed countries have achieved in more than a hundred years," Wu said.

 

(China Daily April 25, 2007)