Andre Yoskowitz
29 Apr 2007 17:56
In an announcement this morning, the Canadian government stated that they will be joining the U.S. WTO complaint against China over copyright infringement and intellectual property protection.
The government said they will be a "third party" in the complaint which was announced earlier this month.
The Department of Foreign Affairs claims that Canada's participation is based on "concerns expressed by Canadian stakeholders on a range of issues related to China’s intellectual property rights regime."
Michael Geist, however, does not agree with the Department's claims. He points out that China only imported $13 million dollars worth of Canadian culture, which is 0.5% of total Canadian culture exports. This fact alone leaves little reasoning behind the coalition except perhaps that Canada has succumbed to U.S. pressure, says Geist.
Although the EU declined to join the complaint when it was filed sources say now that it will, along with Japan, will join the complaints in the coming weeks. We hope this is on their own accord and not because of U.S. pressure.
Source:
Geist