WASHINGTON, Aug 13: The United States has asked the World Trade Organisation to mediate in its copyright row with China, saying bilateral consultations had failed, the government’s trade office said on Monday.

The US Trade Representative’s office said that after Washington filed a complaint with the WTO in April, challenging “deficiencies” in China’s legal regime for protecting and enforcing copyright and trademark protections, bilateral talks in early June were held.

“The United States and China have tried, through formal consultations over the last three months, to resolve differences arising from US concerns about inadequate protection of intellectual property rights in China,” USTR spokesman Sean Spicer said in a statement.

“That dialogue has not generated solutions to the issues we have raised, so we are asking the WTO to form a panel to settle this dispute.” The US request should be considered by the WTO at the next meeting of its dispute settlement body, scheduled on August 31, the USTR said.

Spicer said that China had taken “tangible steps” in recent years to protect intellectual property but “we still see important gaps that need to be addressed.”

On April 10, Washington asked for WTO dispute settlement consultations with China.

The United States accuses the Chinese government of inadequate legal safeguards against counterfeiting.

“In pursuing this action, the United States is seeking to eliminate significant structural deficiencies that give pirates and counterfeiters in China a safe harbour to avoid criminal liability,” the USTR said.

This is the third case against China for which the US has sought a WTO dispute settlement panel. The US requested a panel in September 2006 over an automobile parts dispute and in July asked for one over subsidies.

—AFP