US ANNUAL REPORT FOCUSES ON CHINA'S IP PROTECTION

The United States Trade Representative (USTR) has issued the 2008 Special 301 Review of its trading partners' levels of IP protection.

The report focused foremost on China and Russia, reflecting the size of the US's economic relationships with those countries and their political importance. Though China is still the subject of complaints from the US over the failure of its criminal system to provide effective deterrence against wilful counterfeiting and piracy, the country was praised for tackling software piracy.