China tops 2009 IPR offender list

April 30, 2009 BEIJING--The U.S. Trade Representative on Thursday put China atop its annual list of offenders of intellectual property rights (IPR) citing concerns that Beijing had loosened its piracy crackdown in the ongoing financial crisis. Where pirated DVDs of Hollywood movies largely disappeared from Beijing's streets during the Olympics last summer, touts and vendors selling illegal discs of new releases for about $1 each have returned en masse. In releasing its annual report on the adequacy and effectiveness of intellectual property rights protection by U.S. trading partners, China and Russia topped the priority watch list of offenders that also included Canada for the first time and left off South Korea for the first time.

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