US files two piracy complaints against China

Washington (DC) - The United States has filed two trade complaints of movie, music and book piracy against China. U.S. Trade representative Susan Schwab filed the complaints with the World Trade Organization in Geneva and alleged that American companies lose billions of dollars a year to Chinese piracy.

Schwab told reporters at a press conference that a combination of lax enforcement and illegal barriers to American products contribute to the piracy problem and the ballooning U.S. trade deficit with China. In the first complaint Schwab alleges that China does not adequately prosecute pirate goods vendors.

Chinese officials countered by saying that they are doing everything they can to stop the piracy. China’s highest court recently issued updated guidelines on sentencing allowing vendors with more than 500 illegal copies to be prosecuted. Vendors with more than 2500 copies can be sent to prison for up to seven years.

In the second complaint, the United States says that China makes it prohibitively difficult for Chinese residents to buy imported American goods. The scarcity of authentic goods would presumably lead to a greater demand for counterfeit goods.

During the press conference, Schwab held up an illegal DVD copy of "Night at the Museum" which has been available for weeks before the official April 24th release. Movie pirates are often able to make copies from the screening reels and even the actual movie reels sent to the theatres. Some pirates even resort to using camcorders to film the movie from their theatre seats.

Chinese Commerce Ministry Spokesman Wang Xinpei said the complaints were counterproductive to trade relations between the two countries. He added that China remains "firm in protecting" intellectual property rights.

It should be noted that China isn’t the only country known for software and music piracy. In many Asian countries pirated CDs, DVDs and music are just a short taxi ride away and many major markets will even sell the goods out in the open. In March 2006 we published a story about buying Microsoft Office in Thailand for just a few dollars. We also interviewed officials for the Business Software Alliance, the firm that targets companies that use illegal software, who said that the entire Asia-Pacific region has a 53% piracy rate.

These two trade complaints are in addition to one filed last month against China for subsidizing coated and glossy paper imports into the United States. The paper is used in everything from wall calendars to magazines and school yearbooks. The United States runs month trade deficits with China for several billion dollars. In 2006, the total trade deficit with China was a staggering $235 billion dollars.