Commerce Secretary to Urge China to Tighten Piracy Rules

Departing U.S. Commerce Secretary Don Evans said he would travel to China this week to let leaders there know that President Bush expected greater efforts to tighten rules against patent and trademark piracy.

The three-day visit will be one of his last actions before leaving the Bush administration this month, Evans said in an interview.

China said Dec. 21 that it would lower the threshold for prison terms and make piracy of intellectual property punishable by as much as seven years.

“These are the kind of legal changes that need to take place. Are they enough? I don’t think they are,” Evans said. “We think they are falling a little short of where they need to be.”

The U.S. trade office says piracy is the biggest problem in its $181-billion commercial relationship with China.

Evans will tell Chinese Vice Premier Wu Yi that measures to combat counterfeiting and brand infringement are falling short of U.S. demands.

Carlos M. Gutierrez, who has been nominated to replace Evans, singled out the importance of intellectual property protection last week at his confirmation hearing, citing his experiences as chairman and chief executive of cereal maker Kellogg Co. Gutierrez is expected to be confirmed by the Senate on Jan. 20.

Makers of drugs, movies, auto parts, razors, food, computer software and dozens of other products have complained about businesses in China counterfeiting their merchandise, stealing the designs or technology of their products and mislabeling cheap products as brand-name goods.

The U.S. Trade Representative’s office in September asked American companies to provide details of Chinese theft of trademarks and patents as part of a special review of China’s anti- counterfeiting measures.

The review, to be undertaken early this year, may form the basis of a World Trade Organization complaint against China, Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Josette Shiner said in September.