Measures affecting the protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights
| Short Title: | China — Intellectual Property Rights |
|---|---|
| Respondent: | China |
| Third Parties: | Argentina; Brazil; Canada; Chinese Taipei; European Communities; Turkey; Japan; Korea; India; Australia; Thailand; |
| Complaintant(s): | United States; |
| Dispute Number: | DS362 |
| Link to Dispute Site: | http://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/dispu_e/cases_e/ds362_e.htm |
| Dispute Status: | Pending |
On April 10, 2007, the United States requested consultations with China regarding certain measures pertaining to the protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights in China. The United States and China held consultations on June 7-8, 2007, but the consultations did not resolve the dispute. On August 13, 2007, the United States requested the establishment of a panel, and a panel was established on September 25, 2007. On December 13, 2007, the Director-General composed the panel as follows: Mr. Adrian Macey, Chair; and Mr. Marino Porzio and Mr. Sivakant Tiwari, Members.
The panel circulated its report on January 26, 2009. The panel found that China's denial of copyright protection to works that do not meet China’s content review standards is inconsistent with the TRIPS Agreement. The panel also found it inconsistent with the TRIPS Agreement for China to provide for simple removal of an infringing trademark as the only precondition for the sale at public auction of counterfeit goods seized by Chinese customs authorities.
With respect to the U.S. claim regarding thresholds in China’s law that must be met in order for certain acts of trademark counterfeiting and copyright piracy to be subject to criminal procedures and penalties, the panel clarified that China must provide for criminal procedures and penalties to be applied to willful trademark counterfeiting and copyright piracy on a commercial scale. The panel agreed with the United States that Article 61 of the TRIPS Agreement requires China not to set its thresholds for prosecution of piracy and counterfeiting so high as to ignore the realities of the commercial marketplace. The Panel did find, however, that it needed more evidence in order to decide whether the actual thresholds for prosecution in China’s criminal law are so high as to allow commercial-scale counterfeiting and piracy to occur without the possibility of criminal prosecution.
The DSB adopted the panel report on March 20, 2009. On April 15, 2009, China notified the DSB that China intends to implement the recommendations and rulings of the DSB in this dispute, and stated it would need a reasonable period of time for implementation. On June 29, 2009, the United States and China notified the DSB that they had agreed on a one-year period of time for implementation, to end on March 20, 2010.