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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 OTTAWA 002562 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE PASS USTR FOR SMCCOY, TGARDE, SCHANDLER 
COMMERCE PASS USPTO FOR AADAMS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: CA CH KIPR ECON ETRD AORC WTRO USTR
SUBJECT: CERTAIN CANADIAN INDUSTRIES' INPUT ON POSSIBLE WTO 
DISPUTE ON CHINA IPR 
 
REF: A. OTTAWA 2406 (NOTAL) 
 
     ¶B. STATE 126686 
 
¶1.  (SBU) Summary:  EconMinCouns and Econoff met with 
Canadian Recording Industry Association (CRIA) head Graham 
Henderson (protect) on August 24 to discuss IP, specifically 
the USG's role in encouraging GOC to pass legislation 
implementing the WIPO Internet Treaties.  Henderson also 
briefed us on the August 11 industry consultations in Toronto 
on a possible WTO case against China (see ref A in which Doug 
George of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFAIT) stated 
the GOC was still gathering Canadian industry input.) 
Henderson said that the Canadian Anti-Counterfeiting 
Coalition Network (CACN) industry representatives at the 
meeting supported action to encourage China to enforce IPR. 
 He also indicated that George heard from Canadian 
electronics companies with patent-infringement issues in 
China, and that they also strongly supported GOC action to 
pressure China to enforce IPR, although there was no 
consensus on whether to join the WTO case.  Henderson gave us 
a letter signed by several IP industry associations (see para 
2) that shows strong support for GOC action on IPR 
infringement in China in reference to a proposed (and now 
postponed) GOC trade mission to China.  In addition, 
Henderson also provided us with an internal CRIA memo 
discussing the possible China WTO case (see para 3).  The 
Embassy obtained from another source Doug George's 
presentation on the possible WTO case to the members of CACN. 
Please email Econoff Beth Mader (madere@state.gov) for more 
information on these documents. End summary. 
 
CACN encourages GOC to urge China to protect IPR 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
¶2.  (SBU) Henderson shared a copy of an industry letter to 
Doug George and Industry Canada's Canadian Intellectual 
Property Office (CIPO) Senior Policy Analyst Samuel 
Steinberg.  The letter calls upon the GOC to "ensure China 
actively reduces its piracy levels and opens its markets to 
intellectual property goods."  This letter was sent to George 
and Steinberg in reference to a planned GOC trade mission to 
China (the trade mission is now postponed due to Trade 
Minister Emerson's tight schedule).  According to Henderson, 
the trade mission would have included Emerson and Canadian 
Heritage Minister Bev Oda and would have focused on Canadian 
cultural trade.  CRIA, which faces large losses in China due 
to pirated music, organized an industry response in the form 
of the letter to George and Steinberg to encourage the 
inclusion of IPR issues in the trade mission.  It is signed 
by the presidents of the Canadian Independent Record 
Production Association (CIRPA), the Canadian Motion Picture 
Distributors Association (CMPDA), the Canadian Recording 
Industry Association (CRIA), the Canadian Publishers' council 
(CPC), the Music Industries Association of Canada (MIAC), the 
Canadian Film and Television Production Association (CFTPA), 
the Entertainment Software Association of Canada (ESAC) and 
the Canadian Music Publishers Association (CMPA).  As such, 
it is an impressively wide-ranging and well-supported call 
for the Canadian government to address IP issues in China. 
It makes no reference to the WTO case, however. 
 
CRIA wants GOC to join WTO case 
------------------------------- 
¶3.  (SBU) Henderson also provided us with an internal CRIA 
Q3.  (SBU) Henderson also provided us with an internal CRIA 
memo on the potential WTO case.  The memo refers to a 
powerpoint presentation made by Doug George at the August 11 
meeting in Toronto; we obtained a copy of George's powerpoint 
presentation from another source.  CRIA's internal memo 
includes detailed analysis, but basically boils down to 
CRIA's answers to the two questions on which George solicited 
industry input.  The first question was:  "Does Canada share 
the US concerns regarding copyright?"  CRIA's memo states "we 
certainly do."  George's second question was:  "Can we 
demonstrate serious prejudice to Canadian businesses?" 
CRIA's memo indicates that they need to gather proof that 
Canadian rights holders have exhausted legal means of redress 
in China and evidence of harm to Canadian rights holders. 
According to the memo and Henderson, CRIA is pushing DFAIT to 
get Canada to join the WTO case.  CRIA is trying to pull 
together an industry group (drawing from CACN members) to 
lobby the GOC to join the WTO case. 
 
Other private industry opinions 
------------------------------- 
¶4.  (SBU) We have made inquiries with other industry 
organizations regarding their stance on the possibility of 
 
OTTAWA 00002562  002 OF 002 
 
 
Canada joining the United States in a WTO case against China. 
 CMPDA says that they will be following the U.S. Motion 
Picture Distributors Association's lead on this issue.  ESAC 
expects not to take a position, because not all of their 
members are in agreement and because their members' IP is not 
Canada-based anyway (for example, Nintendo faces huge losses 
in China, but Nintendo is based in Japan and therefore the 
injury to Canada is less obvious.)  CACN as a whole has not 
come to an official position, and thus far it seems that CRIA 
is leading the charge to get the GOC to join the US case. 
 
GOC Plans 
---------- 
¶5.  (SBU)  DFAIT's Nancy Segal (filling in for the 
vacationing Doug George) described the CACN consultations at 
the August 11 meeting as inconclusive, mentioning that many 
concerns were raised about IPR in China, some of which had no 
connection to the WTO case.  She told us that the GOC is 
still consulting internally on the matter while the Justice 
Ministry's Trade Law office looks into legal questions. Not 
only has DFAIT requested more information from CACN member 
industry associations, but the GOC also intends to consult 
with the provincial governments, possibly in the upcoming 
"CTrade" provincial meetings in September.  Segal said that 
unless the provincial governments had already been lobbied by 
their industries on the WTO issue, she would not expect the 
provinces to have answers ready and there would therefore be 
an additional delay in developing a GOC position on the WTO 
case. 
 
Embassy Next Steps 
------------------ 
¶6.  (SBU)  The Embassy's internal IPR Working Group will meet 
August 29.  Please keep us informed of developments on the 
potential WTO case, and let us know what next steps would be 
most useful to USG agencies. 
 
Visit Canada's Classified Web Site at 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/wha/ottawa 
 
DICKSON