China Agrees to Significant Intellectual Property Rights Enforcement Initiatives

The 21st session of the US-China Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade (JCCT) ended last week with the announcement that China has agreed to significant initiatives in several areas, including:

intellectual property rights enforcement,


open and neutral technology standards,


clean energy, and


government procurement.


In addition, with regard to indigenous innovation, China agreed not to discriminate in government procurement based on the origin of intellectual property or to use discriminatory criteria to select industrial equipment. And, China also agreed to resume talks on beef market access.

Established in 1983, the JCCT is the main forum for addressing bilateral trade issues and promoting commercial opportunities between the US and China. Federal officials see these new commitments from China as a significant step towards the reigning in the growing threat of counterfeiting and piracy.

"China agreed to a series of intellectual property rights commitments that will protect American jobs. The commitments build on China's recently announced Special Campaign against counterfeiting and piracy," US Trade Representative Ron Kirk said. "These commitments will have systemic consequences for the protection of US innovation and creativity in China. We expect to see concrete and measurable results, including increased purchase and use of legal software, steps to eradicate the piracy of electronic journals, more effective rules for addressing Internet piracy, and a crack down on landlords who rent space to counterfeiters in China."

The United States and China also signed seven new agreements covering agricultural collaboration, soybean exports, statistics, and promotion of investment in the United States. In addition, the U.S. Trade Development Agency signed the Operating Framework Agreement that marks 10 years of its China program as well as grants for State Grid Smart Grid Standards Development and an Integrated Real Time Water Monitoring System Feasibility Study and Pilot Project.

For more details, view or download the JCCT fact sheet.