China to Increase Piracy Prosecutions

China agreed to increase criminal prosecutions of pirates of copyrighted movies and music and to delay imposing rules that would make it harder for U.S. software companies to sell to the Chinese government, the U.S. said Monday.

At a trade summit in Beijing, Chinese Vice Premier Wu Yi made pledges to curb counterfeiting, including coordinating with U.S. customs and FBI agents to stem exports of illegal copies of movies, razors, auto parts and pharmaceuticals, the U.S. government said.

“We have seen progress, but the real outcome of this meeting will be known only when we see the results in the months ahead,” U.S. Commerce Secretary Carlos M. Gutierrez said. “We will monitor all commitments closely.”

In addition to the pledges on intellectual property, China said it would delay rules drafted in April that would require government offices to show preference to domestic companies when buying software. Government purchases account for about 10% of Chinese software sales, according to market research firm IDC.

Before the meeting, the U.S.-China Business Council and the Business Software Alliance, which represents Microsoft Corp. and other software companies, said they wanted the outright repeal of the procurement rules, which had been issued in draft form.

“We need to continue to work with China to have these rules shelved or revised to reflect international procurement practices that allow American companies to participate,” said John Frisbie, president of the U.S.-China Business Council.

The Motion Picture Assn. of America said it would sign a memorandum of understanding with the Chinese government this week on an enforcement initiative aimed at movie pirates. Still, the industry wants China to lift a cap on the number of U.S. movies that can be shown legally in China each year.

“It is impossible to fight piracy effectively when there are so many barriers to legal product entering the market,” said Daniel Glickman, the association’s president. More than 95% of the DVDs sold in China are pirated, the MPAA estimates.

No agreement was reached Monday on the surge in Chinese textile imports into the U.S. Chinese exporters Saturday reached a cap that the U.S. imposed about two months earlier on imports of knit shirts and underwear.

China’s exports surged a higher-than-expected 30.6% in June from a year earlier, reaching $66 billion, the government said Monday.