US should not go to WTO over copyright breaches: China
China's top piracy watchdog said Thursday the United States should not complain to the World Trade Organisation about Chinese copyright infringements, but added the move would not scare the Asian nation.
China has a legal system and other mechanisms in place to deal with such issues, but will go to the WTO if necessary, said Tian Lipu, head of the State Intellectual Property Bureau.
"We of course don't like the United States lodging complaints to the World Trade Organization," he told reporters at a briefing. "But we are not afraid of any resort to the WTO mechanism."
Tian also urged the US to take a more rational approach to intellectual property rights as more mainland companies find themselves embroiled in rights disputes.
He added that the world should take developing countries' interests into account when addressing such issues.
Speaking to reporters, Tian said that China's intellectual property rights legal system will take some time to evolve, noting that Western concepts in the field took some time to mature.
"China's IPR legal system has only existed for 20 years," he said. "Britain took 300 years and America 200 years."
According to the Ministry of Commerce, the US International Trade Committee launched 12 cases against Chinese companies, worth a total of 1.66 billion dollars, in the first eight months of the year.
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