US-China trade talks conclude with IP protection promises

China pledged to take concrete action to protect intellectual property rights during the recently-concluded US-China Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade meeting, Bloomberg reported. US Secretary of Commerce John Bryson called Chinese Vice Premier Wang Qishan’s promise to create and head an intellectual property protection office a “step in the right direction.” Wang Chao, China’s Deputy Commerce Minister, said that steps to ensure software legalization at all provincial government offices would be completed by 2013, in an effort to protect trademarks and intellectual property on the Internet. The US and China will set up a government and industry program next year with an aim to identifying new approaches to combating the sale of counterfeit goods online, according to the office of US Trade Representative Ron Kirk.