China and the United States are carrying out their commitments to protect intellectual property rights (IPR) and both sides are encouraged by recent progress, two U.S. intellectual property rights (IPR) officials said here on Tuesday.

Stephen Pinkos, deputy undersecretary of commerce and deputy director of the U.S. Patent and Trade Office, and Chris Israel, U.S. coordinator of international IPR enforcement, made the remarks while attending a working group meeting of the China-U.S. Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade (JCCT).

 

Israel said the two sides had covered quite a few issues over the past day and a half, discussing how past commitments have been implemented, and will continue to discuss specific details about past commitments and ongoing issues in the next two days.

 

Pinkos said the commitments made at the last JCCT meeting in April between China and the United States are being carried out. For example, the commitment regarding the installation of legal software on computers sold in China is being implemented and the U.S. side considers it a very positive step forward.

 

Israel said the two sides were very encouraged to see progress recently in law enforcement cooperation and in China's development of IPR protection infrastructure and organizations.

 

There have also been more training programs and other cooperation work between the two governments, said Israel, adding the U.S. side is "very committed to staying focused on looking forward and continuing to work with our Chinese counterparts".

 

He said, "our interest in this is to work very closely with the Chinese government to pursue tangible results, meaningful progress and effective measurements of that progress."

 

According to Israel, the U.S. government will post two additional IPR attaches to China within the next few months, one to Beijing and one to Guangzhou.

 

Israel said the U.S. also plan to hold more training programs outside of Beijing, trying to bring together Chinese officials at provincial level along with U.S. government officials and inviting rights holders to learn about how to protect copyright.

 

For the next day and a half, Pinkos said they will also meet officials of China's State Intellectual Property Office, the Chinese trademark office as well as the Supreme People's Court and the National People's Congress, China's top legislative body.

 

(China Daily 08/23/2006 ) 

2006-08-23

2006-08-23