LOS
ANGELS (RIAA) - The nation's leading intellectual property trade
organizations, including the Recording
Industry Association of America
(RIAA), dramatically stepped up their calls for greater anti-piracy
enforcement by the Chinese government.
Responding to a request
from the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) for public comments on the
adequacy of China's enforcement of intellectual property laws, the
International Intellectual Property Alliance, which includes copyright
groups like the RIAA, submitted a report that outlined the magnitude of
the harm that America's copyright industries suffer because of China's
failure to comply with it's international obligations. The intellectual
property rights groups' submission requests that China's failure to
crack down on intellectual property theft be brought before the World
Trade Organization (WTO) and that China be placed on the U.S.
government's Special 301 "priority watch list" � countries that USTR
determines present significant piracy problems for U.S. rightholders.
This
would be the first time ever that China's intellectual property
enforcement issues would be raised with the WTO, the international body
formed to resolve trade disputes.
"Despite a number of sometimes
encouraging commitments, and notwithstanding the tremendous efforts of
Ambassador Zoellick, Secretary Evans and entire Administration, China
has failed to follow through on meaningful copyright protection and
enforcement against the widespread piracy of our industry's products,"
said Neil Turkewitz, Executive Vice President, International, RIAA.
"Our report to the trade representative describes in detail the
magnitude of the problems that the nation's copyright industries
continue to face in China. This is primarily due to China's failure to
comply with multiple agreements that would have greatly strengthened
the enforcement of intellectual property laws. The situation in China
is further exacerbated by China's failure to provide greater access to
its markets, thus limiting the supply of legitimate materials�a demand
that is currently primarily met by Chinese pirates."
"Piracy
rates for copyrighted material continue to hover around 90 percent,"
Turkewitz added. "Given the enormity of the problem, we believe that
these issues deserve to be elevated to consideration by the WTO."
In
addition to the submission by the U.S. intellectual property groups,
the record industry's international trade organization, IFPI, has also
recently highlighted the reoccurring problem of intellectual property
theft in China. Jay Berman, the former Chairman of IFPI, testified
before the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission on February
4. Berman emphasized two key priorities for the recording industry in
China: first, the serious problem of enforcement in a market that is
dominated by pirate recordings, despite increased raids undertaken and
discs seized; and second, the market access barriers that continue to
prevent entry for international recordings despite an increase in the
number of titles officially sanctioned for release.
