April 10, 2007	Tuesday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 21, 1428

WASHINGTON, April 9: The United States will file a pair of World Trade Organisations cases against China aimed at stopping widespread piracy of American movies, music, books and software, the Financial Times reported on Monday.

Sean Spicer, a spokesman for the US Trade Representative’s (USTR) office, declined to comment on the report, which is based on unidentified sources.

However, US Trade Representative Susan Schwab has scheduled a press conference for 1pm (1700 GMT) on Monday, heightening expectations she will announce the actions. US trade officials have warned

China for more than a year they could take action at the WTO because of piracy concerns.

They’ve also said they were on the brink of filing a case late last year but agreed to give Beijing more time to show results on the issue.

The United States plans to file a pair of cases, one aimed at Chinese market access barriers that restrict sales of legitimate US music, movie, books and software and another aimed at stopping pirated sales of those products, the Financial Times reported.

A copyright industry official said they had been asked by the USTR not to comment on the matter.

The Bush administration, under pressure from Congress to get tougher on trade with China, filed a case earlier this year against Chinese government subsidies that it said violated WTO rules. It has been expected to announce soon it is taking the next step in that case by formally requesting a dispute settlement panel to hear its complaint.—Reuters