Top American Senators on Monday called on Beijing to do more to stop violations of US intellectual property rights after the US International Trade Commission in a report said it found out Chinas infringement of IPR and discrimination against American industries. It is time for China to get serious about protecting American innovation, said Senator Max Baucus, Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, which has exclusive jurisdiction over international trade.
China continually fails to protect and enforce American intellectual property rights and discriminates against American businesses.
Small steps and empty promises won't cut it when American jobs are on the line, he said. This weeks US China trade talks are the perfect opportunity for China to make serious commitments to address these issues.
It is time for action, he added. China has committed to protect U.S intellectual property, said Senator Grassley, who is ranking member of the committee. But this report shows that China isn't living up to its commitments.
It's a serious problem. China needs to work harder to enforce its intellectual property protection laws, and it needs to stop its policies that treat American companies unfairly, Grassley said.
Despite China's serious problem with intellectual property infringement, the US government hasn't done a comprehensive economic analysis of the impact on the US economy until now.
This two-part report will fill that gap, Grassley added. On April 19, 2010, Senators Baucus and Grassley asked the US International Trade Commission to conduct a study examining the impact of China's IPR infringement on the US economy and US jobs and to provide two reports describing the results.
The first report, which the Senators released today, outlines the structural and institutional impediments that undermine effective IPR enforcement in China.
The report also describes China's policies that discriminate against American and other foreign companies in favour of homegrown Chinese or indigenous innovation.
The second report, which is due in May 2011, will quantify the impact of China's IPR infringement and indigenous innovation policies on American jobs and workers.
Baucus has long worked to resolve major issues facing Americas economic relationship with China. In October, Baucus visited the country to meet top Chinese leadership to discuss the critical need for China to allow its currency to appreciate.
He also sought measures to protect and enforce US IPRs, eliminate its policies favouring home-grown, or indigenous innovation that discriminate against American companies and remove its "unjustified" restrictions on beef and other US agricultural products.
The two Senators said they will continue pressing China to act on these critical economic issues so that US companies can compete in the global market, grow and create good-paying American jobs.
