[A2k] Mandelson mulls WTO piracy case against China

[Michelle Childs]

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/10/10/china_patent_piracy_case/
Mandelson mulls WTO piracy case against China
IP 'not respected enough'
By OUT-LAW.COM →
Published Tuesday 10th October 2006 09:18 GMTGet

European Union trade commissioner Peter Mandelson has threatened to take
China to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) over patent infringements.

Mandelson says he "reserves the right to take a case to the WTO" over
patent piracy.

Amidst a battle over physical goods currently centred on cheap shoe
imports, Mandelson is opening up another front against China relating to
intellectual property, which he says is not respected well enough in
China.

"They're starting to take much firmer action against Chinese companies
ripping off other Chinese companies, but what I want them to do is apply
the same standard to European companies," Mandelson told newswire
Bloomberg.

The European Chamber of Commerce in China represents 1,000 companies, 91
per cent of which have been affected by trademark or copyright theft,
according to a recent survey.

Mandelson said that Chinese intellectual property law is not the problem,
it is the enforcement of that law which could lead to a WTO case. "The law
exists, but it needs to be enforced," he said.

The EU says that copyright and trademark violating business is worth
=80360bn a year worldwide.

The EU claims that there is =80360bn worth of trade carried out a year
worldwide which violates copyright and trademark protections. It believes
that around 70 per cent of those counterfeit goods which end up in Europe
originate in China.

It has had several recent summits with the US in an attempt to address the
problem. Last June the US and the EU agreed to co-operate more closely in
an attempt to fight piracy of all kinds.

"We are out of time now on intellectual property and counterfeiting," US
Chamber of Commerce president Tom Donohue said at the time.

In a separate trade battle with China, the EU last week imposed duties on
shoes made there in a bid to protect European shoe makers against what
they call unfairly low prices.

Copyright =A9 2006, OUT-LAW.com

OUT-LAW.COM is part of international law firm Pinsent Masons.



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Michelle Childs -Head of European Affairs
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