Post Tagged with: "wto"

Peeking Behind the Wall of Canada’s Copyright Complaint Against China

Appeared in the Toronto Star on February 9, 2009 as Scaling Wall Over Canada's Trade Complaint Against China Late last month, the World Trade Organization released a much-anticipated decision involving a U.S.-led complaint against China over its intellectual property laws.  Canada was among a number of countries that participated in […]

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February 9, 2009 Comments are Disabled Columns Archive

Why the U.S. Lost Its WTO IP Complaint Against China. Badly.

The World Trade Organization yesterday released its much-anticipated decision involving a U.S. complaint against China over its protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights.  The U.S. quickly proclaimed victory, with newspaper headlines trumpeting the WTO panel's requirement that China reform elements of its intellectual property laws.  For its part, China was conciliatory and offered to work with the international community to resolve the concerns raised by the decision.  Reuters notes that the Chinese reaction is far less combative than it has been other issues.

Why the muted response?  I suspect that it is because anyone who bothers to work through the 147 page decision will find that the headlines get it wrong.  The U.S. did not win this case, but rather lost badly. China is required to amend elements of its copyright law, but on the big issues of this case – border measures and IP enforcement – almost all of the contested laws were upheld as valid.  Further, the ramifications of this case extend well beyond China's laws into other areas such as ACTA, since it points to the considerable flexiblity that countries have in meeting their international obligations on these issues.

The case centred on three key issues:

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January 27, 2009 15 comments News

WTO Issues Decision In U.S. – China IP Case

The WTO Panel has released its decision in the U.S. complaint against China over its IP laws.  It ruled against China on certain elements, but dismissed a complaint involving criminal enforcement.  Canada participated in the case as a third party against China, a matter that I will explore in a […]

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January 26, 2009 Comments are Disabled News

USTR Declines to Pursue Canadian Film Subsidy Complaint

The USTR has announced that it has declined to pursue a U.S. petition that argued that Canadian subsidies on the filming of U.S.-produced television shows and theatrical films within Canada were inconsistent with WTO obligations.

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October 21, 2007 Comments are Disabled News

Canada Joins U.S. WTO Complaint Against China

This morning the Canadian government announced that it is joining the U.S. World Trade Organization complaint against China over Chinese intellectual property protection.  Canada will be a "third party" in the complaint, which was launched earlier this month over China's criminal statutes involving commercial-scale copyright infringement. The Department of Foreign […]

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April 25, 2007 4 comments News