U.S. may sue China over IPR violations

The United States may be on the verge of suing China over alleged violations of intellectual-property rights, it was reported Friday.

The Seattle Times said an assistant U.S. trade representatives told reporters that the United States could bring its case to the World Trade Organization as early as this fall.

"We are discussing some WTO-related IPR concerns" with Chinese officials, Timothy Stratford said. "If those are not resolved by fall, it's quite possible that we would have an IPR case."

Stratford, who spoke earlier at the state-sponsored conference, indicated the WTO action would apply to a wide range of intellectual property, including software, digital content and pharmaceuticals.

The Times said that while Stratford played down the urgency of the possible suit, the House of Representatives this week passed legislation including $50 million in funding for monitoring of Chinese compliance with trade agreements.

Copyright 2006 by United Press International