On Friday (April 30), the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) said in its “301” special report that China remains on USTR’s “priority list of concerns.
The “301” report is USTR’s annual report that discusses intellectual property protection issues in various countries. In the new report, senior officials from the Office of the Trade Representative also said the Beijing government has failed to meet its commitments to protect U.S. intellectual property rights in the first phase of the U.S.-China trade agreement last year.
The report notes that the Beijing government demonstrated its focus on intellectual property last year by revising the Patent Law and other provisions and releasing several draft regulatory measures, but that its reforms “fall short of all the fundamental changes needed to improve China’s intellectual property landscape” and are still awaiting meaningful implementation.
The report said there is still uncertainty about the effectiveness of the changes in Chinese law, while the long-standing problem of counterfeit trademarks and products remains. It also noted that Chinese officials have claimed that intellectual property rights should be linked to “national security and the need to develop indigenous innovation,” a statement that has raised concerns about potential infringement of foreign rights holders’ property rights.
“These statements and measures demonstrate its demands and pressures on technology transfer and raise concerns about whether Chinese IPR protection and enforcement will be applied fairly to foreign rights holders in China,” the USTR said.
This comes on the heels of the Beijing government’s long history of allegedly funding improper acquisition of intellectual property abroad, practices that the U.S. government has denounced as “state-sponsored intellectual property theft.
USTR said protecting technology and patents is a key priority for the U.S. because patent-intensive industries generate more than 38 percent of U.S. gross domestic product.
USTR Dyche’s statement said that “failure to adequately and effectively protect these rights in foreign markets hurts the U.S. economy, the vitality of American innovators, and the livelihoods of our workers.”
To date, Beijing has been included on the 301 list for 17 consecutive years. In addition to China, the report lists eight other key countries of concern on the list, including Argentina, Arabia, Ukraine, Chile, India, Indonesia, Russia and Venezuela, and 23 other countries on its “watch list.
The 301 report also noted that increased online sales during the pandemic increased “widespread counterfeiting in China’s e-commerce marketplace,” and that China was the source of most counterfeit and substandard anti-epidemic goods, including masks and disinfectants.
Recent Comments