WASHINGTON - China and Russia again lead the United States’ annual list of the world’s biggest producers of pirated and counterfeited goods, a U.S. trade report said Monday. “We must defend ideas, inventions and creativity from rip-off artists and thieves,” U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab said in a statement accompanying the report, which details copyright and patent theft around the world.
The United States recently filed a pair of complaints against China at the World Trade Organization for failing to adequately protect U.S. goods — ranging from movies and music to manufactured goods — from piracy and counterfeiting. Russia’s failure to stop the same problem is one of the biggest obstacles blocking its entry into the WTO. “The administration’s top priorities this year continue to be addressing weak IPR (intellectual property rights) protection and enforcement, particularly in China and Russia,” the trade office said in its report.
Source: InformationWeek