China’s violations of United States intellectual property rights costs the US tens of billions of dollars in economic activity and millions of jobs, according to a report released today from the US International Trade Commission.
The report’s release led leaders of the Senate Finance Committee, which has jurisdiction over international trade, to demand action by China to end these violations.
“Time and time again, China has failed to protect and enforce American intellectual property rights, and it continues to discriminate unfairly against American businesses,” committee Chairman Max Baucus (Democrat, Montana) said in a statement. But it was not clear what specific action the senators were calling for.
According to Senate statement, the ITC report showed that China’s IP rights infringement: “cost the US economy approximately $48 billion in 2009 alone. Of that total, more than $26 billion came from the information and service sector and more than $18 billion came from the high-tech and heavy manufacturing sector, in addition to billions more from other sectors. Although IPR infringement most commonly affects large firms, small and medium-sized firms are also affected.”
The ITC report said that “if China complied with their current international obligations to protect and enforce IPR, 2.1 million jobs could be created in the US,” they said. “The most direct jobs impact would come in high-tech, innovative industries.”
The full ITC report is available here. It was the second report requested from the ITC. The first was published in December.