China, US eye deal on copyright enforcement

Mumbai: China and the United States have agreed to hold further meetings of a joint intellectual property working group in the near future ahead of signing a ''strategic cooperation'' agreement on copyright and trademark protection and enforcement.

This was agreed to at the 19th US-China Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade (JCCT) which met in Yorba Linda, California on 16 September.

Chinese vice premier Wang Qishan, US commerce secretary Carlos Gutierrez and US trade representative Susan Schwab attended the meeting, according to a USTR release.
 
Chinese and US delegations agreed to boost trade ties in areas, including food security, loan for medical equipment purchase, promotion of digital TV, cooperation in agriculture and on trade statistics, etc.

The two sides vowed to fight counterfeiting of medicines, specifically in preventing the sale of chemicals to those who would use them for illicit purposes. China agreed to avoid direction of software purchases by the government and to make an improved offer to the World Trade Organization regarding accession to the Government Procurement Agreement, which is intended to ensure transparency and non-discriminatory procedures (including discrimination against international bidders) in the procurement of government resources, the USTR release said.

Also under discussion are cooperation in areas of ''mutual interest,'' which include cooperation on piracy and counterfeit goods - both in retail markets and online - and the development of guidelines in China on intellectual property and standards.

The two sides also agreed to boost cooperation between their working groups in fields such as intellectual property rights and the information industry.

The JCCT is a high-level government-to-government dialogue mechanism, which helps open market opportunities and resolve trade disputes between the two countries.

The two sides also agreed to continue the meetings of a formal IP working group, formed in 2004 to facilitate cooperation on IP.

With annual two-way trade between the two nations at $387 billion, China is now the United States' China is the second largest trading partner of the US.