By Todd Bishop and Brad Wong -
With Chinese President Hu Jintao set to visit Seattle next week, the region's technology companies will be looking for signs that the country is prepared to take further steps to crack down on piracy.
The technology trade group WSA sent an e-mail message Thursday alerting its members that Hu "will be delivering a major policy speech on technology and intellectual property" during a luncheon address Tuesday in downtown Seattle.
But Gary Locke, the former governor and a key organizer of the visit, cautioned in an interview that the details of Hu's speech are still up in the air. In his own invitation to potential attendees of the $250-a-plate luncheon, Locke described the topic more generally, saying Hu will address "important Chinese policy matters which may affect U.S. companies doing business in China."
Intellectual-property protection in China is a key issue for many companies in the Seattle region, given the presence here of Microsoft Corp. and others that do business in the world's most populous nation. The International Intellectual Property Alliance estimates that 90 percent of business and entertainment software in China was pirated as of last year, with losses from piracy totaling around $2 billion.
Hu is scheduled to visit Microsoft's Redmond campus Monday afternoon, before attending a dinner Monday night hosted by Gov. Christine Gregoire at the Medina home of Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates.
WSA President Kathy Wilcox, a member of the organizing committee led by Locke, said the group learned of the speech's expected topic through that role. Exactly what Hu will say about intellectual property isn't clear, she said. But she called it an intriguing subject for the Chinese president to be addressing.
"That is the issue for doing business in China -- the sanctity of your product, and your intellectual property, and the fact that it's pirated so actively and readily," Wilcox said. "One could hope that the policy position that they're taking, and that he's communicating, will be some kind of protection for those persons wanting to do business there."
During a hearing in Seattle in January about economic and security issues, Jesse Feder, the Business Software Alliance's international trade and intellectual property director, said his group had commissioned a study in 2003 that found that China has the highest piracy rate of the 86 countries examined.
But there also will be plenty of other topics for Hu to address, as intellectual property rights are far from the only major economic issue between the countries. For example, lawmakers and analysts are concerned about the trade imbalance -- the United States imports far more goods from China than it exports.
The United States said Thursday that it would reimpose quotas on certain Chinese textiles and clothing after talks on the issue failed to result in an agreement.
On another crucial issue, rising prosperity in China is expected to create greater demand for commercial airplanes there. Hu's preliminary schedule includes a stop at The Boeing Co.'s Everett manufacturing plant, although the Machinists strike could result in a change in that portion of the schedule.
Hu also is scheduled to visit President Bush at the White House and speak at Yale University in New Haven, Conn.
P-I reporter Todd Bishop can be reached at 206-448-8221 or toddbishop@seattlepi.com.
Source: Seattle Post Intelligencer
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