U.S. Steps Up Public Campaign Against China's Pirated Products
U.S. Commerce Secretary Donald Evans publicly backed General Motors Corp.'s claims that a Chinese auto maker is using stolen design information to build a rival car, underscoring how increasingly sophisticated Chinese piracy is threatening foreign businesses and roiling trade relations.
Mr. Evans, in a speech to U.S. and Chinese officials and business executives yesterday, said Chery Automobile Co.'s QQ minicar is virtually a twin of the Chevrolet Spark developed by a GM unit in South Korea, GM Daewoo Automotive & Technology Co. Mr. Evans didn't directly accuse Chery of theft, but said the company is using pirated proprietary information to produce the QQ. Mathematical formulas and other design information "were simply stolen from GM Daewoo," Mr. Evans said. "This is an incident that defies any kind of innocent explanation."
Mr. Evans's remarks were the highest-level public comment by the Bush administration on the dispute between Chery and GM, whose Daewoo affiliate last month sued the Chinese company in a Shanghai court after months of accusations.
A Chery spokesman, Meng Tao, declined to comment on Mr. Evans's remarks and the lawsuit.
The official and public U.S. attention highlights how the widespread infringement of intellectual property in China is becoming a central issue in the countries' trade relations. There have been increased allegations of piracy problems from foreign auto makers, which have seen their robust sales of 2003 slip in recent months. Several Japanese auto makers have complained that their proprietary designs or trademarks have been used by Chinese rivals.
While once confined to inexpensive consumer products sold domestically, Chinese piracy has expanded rapidly, moving into export markets and covering complex manufactured goods. The trend isn't upsetting only U.S. multinationals, which sell to China and use it as a manufacturing base; it also makes it politically harder for Washington to defend two-way trade that last year tipped an estimated $150 billion in China's favor.
Nearly two-thirds of the counterfeit products seized in the U.S. originate in China, said Mr. Evans, who is stepping down as commerce secretary. He said the problem ranges from knock-offs of National Basketball Association merchandise to pharmaceuticals to the QQ.
China has responded to U.S. pressure, reinterpreting an existing law to expand criminal penalties for piracy and launching campaigns to educate officials on the need to protect intellectual-property rights. Yesterday, China's National Copyright Administration announced that three men were sentenced to prison terms of between six months and one year for commissioning two companies to make 59,000 copies of Microsoft Corp. software. The companies also were fined the equivalent of $11,000 and had the profits from their sales confiscated, the Associated Press reported.
Yet such arrests are rare, and though Mr. Evans previously has called on China to punish more offenders, he said ultimately what the U.S. wants is a sharp reduction in piracy. The QQ, he said, is becoming a test of government resolve in a key industry.
Commerce Department officials said it is premature to discuss American action against Chery, given that Chinese courts have yet to rule on GM's suit.
In alleging the QQ is a copy of the Spark, Mr. Evans said several professional organizations found the cars have identical body structures and exterior and interior designs, and that many parts are interchangeable, according to the prepared text of his remarks. GM provided those findings to the Commerce Department, Undersecretary of Commerce Grant Aldonas said.
美国称奇瑞汽车设计抄袭通用汽车
美国商务部部长埃文斯(Donald Evans)称，一家中国汽车制造商使用抄袭自通用汽车(General Motors Corp.)的设计资料生产一款小型轿车，这一行为表明中国日趋严重的盗版对外国企业构成了挑战。
埃文斯周四在对美、中官员以及商界领袖发表演讲时表示，中国奇瑞汽车有限公司(Chery Automobile Co.)的QQ车型实际上是通用大宇汽车科技公司(GM Daewoo Auto & Technology Co., 简称：通用大宇)开发的Chevrolet Spark的翻版，通用大宇是通用汽车的韩国子公司。埃文斯没有直接指责奇瑞抄袭，但是他说该公司使用剽窃的产权资料生产QQ。埃文斯表示，其数学公式及其他设计资料抄袭自通用大宇，这一事实让任何无罪辩解都立不住脚。
埃文斯此番言论是美国布什(George W. Bush)政府就奇瑞和通用汽车之争在公开场合所做出的最高姿态的评论。通用大宇数月前开始指责奇瑞抄袭其设计，并于上月向上海一家法庭对这家公司提起了诉讼。
奇瑞发言人孟涛拒绝对埃文斯的讲话以及诉讼发表评论。但就在奇瑞事件再度升温的数周前，一家美国公司表示它希望从2007年开始进口奇瑞其它车型的汽车。
美国官方在公众场合作此评论凸现出中国普遍存在的知识产权侵权行为正成为该国贸易关系的一个中心问题。外国汽车制造商提出的侵权指控有增无减，这些公司将数十亿美元投入中国建造厂房，结果却发现汽车销量继2003迅猛增长后，在最近几个月出现下滑。几家日本汽车制造商抱怨，中国竞争对手使用了他们的产权设计或商标。
盗版曾经一度仅存在于国内市场的廉价消费品，但现在已经迅速蔓延到出口市场并含括了复杂的制造品。这一势头不仅仅让向中国销售产品并将之作为生产基地的美国跨国公司感到沮丧，而且还让华盛顿在政治上更加难以为两国贸易辩护－－去年中国对美国的贸易顺差估计约为1,500亿美元。
埃文斯说，在美国发现的假冒产品中，有三分之二来自中国。埃文斯在希望中国泛滥的盗版问题引起人们关注时，常常将中国假冒产品的日益复杂化和扩大化作为显示问题严重性的证据。在16个月前上次访问北京时，埃文斯在演讲中曾拿出一张《杀死比尔1》的盗版光盘，并表示这个光盘在北京随处可得。
这次即将卸任的埃文斯说，中国的盗版产品包括了NBA商品、药品，以至QQ。
中国面对美国的压力作出了回应：中国重新解释了一条现有法律，将刑罚扩大到盗版；开展活动让官员了解保护知识产权的必要性。据美联社(Associated Press)报导，中国国家版权局周四宣布，有三人因委托两家公司制作59,000张微软(Microsoft Corp.)盗版软件而被判入狱6个月至1年。两家公司也被处以相当于11,000美元的罚款，并没收盈利所得。
但是此类刑事处罚非常罕见，尽管埃文斯此前呼吁中国对盗版者采取更严厉措施，但是他最终表示美国希望的是盗版大幅减少。他说，QQ正成为检验政府在一个重要行业决心的试金石。
奇瑞的主要投资者是一些国家支持的企业，这些企业由安徽芜湖市政府所控制。埃文斯说，“当执法者与违法者串通一气或者容忍非法行为时，法律如何能得到执行？”
埃文斯在准备好的演讲稿中表示，几家专业机构（他未透露名称）发现两款汽车有完全相同的车身结构、外部及内部设计，许多零部件是可以互换的。美国商务部副部长Grant Aldona说，通用汽车向美国商务部提交了上述信息。
