The United States trade office filed a request for a negotiation addressed to the World Trade Organization (WTO) on Monday to put a halt on the thriving copyright piracy in China. The request was made after the United States claimed that last June's bilateral talks with China about its lenient anti-piracy policies and weak course of action against counterfeiting has failed. China's market, being the world's biggest producer of fake goods, is said to be a threat to the international trade since it hinders legitimate companies to do proper business. With WTO on its side, US is hoping that it can push China to come up with more efficient policies against intellectual property rights violation. Music and computer software industries lose billions of sales due to China's inability to impose punitive measures on copyright theft problems, which results in unstable international trade industries.

For four months, China and US governments have tried to arrive at a solution through the bilateral talks that were set in June after the latter issued an official complaint against China last April. Now, the U.S seeks WTO Dispute Settlement Body's intervention after the bilateral consultations, which aim to achieve better international trade between the two countries, have failed.

Sean Spicer, spokesperson for US trade representative Susan Schwab, said that their office acknowledges China's efforts to improve its enforcement on intellectual property rights. However, he added that there are still "gaps that need to be addressed." The US trade office hopes that with WTO's intervention, China will have no other way but impose aggressive means on implementing international trade standards on piracy violators. The official request asks for the creation of a panel that will settle the two countries' international trade dispute. The request will be considered on August 31, the schedule for the next consultation with WTO's dispute settlement body.