Senate Finance leaders call for investigation into China's IP infringement

Intellectual property infringement by China is costing the U.S. economy hundreds of thousands of jobs and billions of dollars each year and needs to be investigated, two Senators said Monday. 

Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and ranking member Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) called for an investigation into the effect of China's infringement on intellectual property on the nation's economy and jobs, according to a letter sent today to U.S. International Trade Commission Chairman Shara Aranoff.

The Senators have requested that ITC provide two reports within the next year quantifying the effects on American competitiveness, while looking into how China's policies favoring "home-grown innovation" negatively effects U.S. companies in the Chinese market, and restricting the ability for those companies to create jobs here. 

The economy and its workers are suffering because of "China's failure to curb the rampant theft of American intellectual property," Baucus said. "China needs to step up to the plate, live up to its international obligations and protect and enforce U.S. intellectual property rights."

Baucus said he expects the report to provide guidance on how to better protect U.S. innovation in China and "create good-paying jobs here at home."

Intellectual property includes patents, copyrights and trademarks.

"We need to do more to crack down on China's manipulative trade policies," Grassley said. "China is using its 'indigenous innovation' program to discriminate against U.S. products in the Chinese market."