It seems the left hand doesn’t always know what the right hand is doing on the diplomatic front, apparently. Late last week, the US and Chinese patent offices signed an agreement promising cooperation, including sharing information and best practices between the two. At the same time, however, it appears the Chinese government is pretty steamed about being included in the USTR’s silly special 301 report (which is basically mocked by everyone outside of the the USTR and the entertainment or pharma industries). To make matters worse, last week’s announcement by a group of elected officials in Congress under the banner of the “anti-piracy caucus,” which blamed China for not stopping file sharing on Baidu, seems to have pushed gov’t officials over the edge. China is pissed off and accusing the USTR of blatant lies:
“The involved U.S. Congress members should respect the fact and stop making groundless accusations against China.”
While it’s difficult to take the word of Chinese officials on this matter seriously, we again have to wonder if US politicians (and industry reps) have any idea what they’re setting themselves up for. As we noted recently, under pressure from US companies and politicians, China has begun cracking down on infringement, but has done so almost exclusively against foreign companies. Ticking off China even more on this issue doesn’t seem like a particularly wise strategy.
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