U.S. Concerned About Lack Of IP Protection

ByJohn S. McClenahen This week, the U.S., along with Argentina, Canada and Egypt, announced its intent to file a case with the World Trade Organization against the European Union, challenging the 15-nation group's moratorium on approving agricultural biotech products. But that's not the U.S.'s only current beef with other trading nations. Prominent among other complaints is the lack of adequate intellectual property (IP) protection. "The United States is concerned about high levels of IP piracy in Asia, Central and eastern Europe, and Latin America due to a global lack of IP protections and enforcement," says the White House Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR). Brazil, China, India, Russia, South Korea and Ukraine were specifically cited for worrisome policies or seeming unwillingness to enforce rules in USTR's recently released 2003 inventory of foreign trade barriers.