* Groups hope summit will build on progress made in Dec
* Software piracy estimated at 80 percent in China
* China, others curbed US beef imports in 2003
By Doug Palmer
WASHINGTON, Jan 12 – U.S. software manufacturers and beef exporters want President Barack Obama to push for increased sales to China when he meets with Chinese President Hu Jintao next week.
The summit follows high-level U.S.-China trade talks last month at which Chinese officials pledged to increase use of legal software and agreed to talks on removing import restrictions on U.S. beef that were put in place in 2003.
The progress raised expectations of more concrete agreements by the time Hu meets with Obama.
Jodie Kelley, vice president and general counsel at the Business Software Alliance, said U.S. software companies like Microsoft MSFT.O and Oracle ORCL.O “at a minimum want to see a multi-year license agreement” rather than a one-time sale, however large.
A study done for the group concluded four out of five software applications installed on personal computers in China were pirated. BSA also estimates the commercial value of pirated software in China has nearly doubled from $3.9 billion in 2005 to $7.6 billion in 2009.
Given the amount of lost sales, any agreement announced next week “would have to be pretty significant” to satisfy concerns U.S. software companies have, Kelley said.
This week chief U.S. agricultural trade negotiator Isi Siddiqui has been in Beijing for beef talks.
Like many countries, China closed its door to U.S. beef exports after the first case of mad cow disease was found in the United States more than seven years ago.
Bill Westman, vice president for international trade at the American Meat Institute, said it was unclear whether the two sides would be able to strike a deal by next week.
But “having them go back to the table so soon after JCCT meeting is encouraging,” Westman said.
The U.S. Meat Export Federation has estimated China could be a $200 million market for U.S. beef if current restrictions were removed.
Since 2003, the United States has taken steps to ensure its beef supply is safe from disease, and many countries have either lifted or partially lifted their import bans.
Article source: http://ph.news.yahoo.com/rtrs/20110113/tbs-usa-china-trade-21231dd.html
Category: Piracy – Software, Music, Movie