WTO renders mixed ruling in US-China IP dispute

A WTO panel has issued a split decision in a dispute between the US and China over the enforcement of intellectual property rights by favoring one US argument and shooting down two others. 

Siding with China in two arguments, the panel denies the US argument that China's criminal law system does not provide ample protection to IPRs.   For the third US assertion - Chinese customs rules allow pirated goods to continue distribution rather than being destructed -the panel concluded that there are no specific provisions in Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs) regarding this, and the US had not done enough to prove that the Chinese policies are so loose as to violate the TRIPs.  (by Tian Yu)

WTO驳回美国诉中国知识产权保护两项诉求

本报讯  记者从商务部网站获悉，10月9日，世界贸易组织（WTO）就美国诉中国知识产权保护问题做出认定，在所诉的3项主要诉求中，支持美国的1项主张，其余2项予以驳回。

消息称，专家小组在美国提出的其他2项诉求中支持了中国，即专家小组驳回了美国提出的“中国的刑法规定未能对知识产权提供充分保护”的观点。对于美国提出的第3项主张，即中国的关税规则允许侵犯知识产权的产品继续在市场上销售而非销毁，专家小组认为，《与贸易有关的知识产权协议》并未对此做出明确规定,且美国并未提供充分证据证明中国的相关规则违反了《与贸易有关的知识产权协议》的规定。（田 雨）