Amidst a battle over physical goods
currently centred on cheap shoe imports, Mandelson is opening up
another front against China relating to intellectual property,
which he says is not respected well enough in China.
"They're starting to take much firmer action against Chinese
companies ripping off other Chinese companies, but what I want them
to do is apply the same standard to European companies,'' Mandelson
told newswire Bloomberg.
The European Chamber of Commerce in China represents 1,000
companies, 91% of which have been affected by trade mark or
copyright theft, according to a recent survey.
Mandelson said that Chinese intellectual property law is not the
problem, it is the enforcement of that law which could lead to a
WTO case. "The law exists, but it needs to be enforced," he
said.
The EU says that copyright and trade mark violating business is
worth €360 billion a year worldwide.
The EU claims that there is €360 billion worth of trade carried
out a year worldwide which violates copyright and trade mark
protections. It believes that around 70% of those counterfeit goods
which end up in Europe originate in China.
It has had several recent summits with the US in an attempt to
address the problem. Last June the US and the EU agreed to
co-operate more closely in an attempt to fight piracy of all
kinds.
"We are out of time now on intellectual property and
counterfeiting," Tom Donohue, president of the U.S. Chamber of
Commerce, said at the time.
In a separate trade battle with China the EU last week imposed
duties on shoes made there in a bid to protect European shoe makers
against what they call unfairly low prices.
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