WTO Pact May Guard Trade Secrets

Dougherty, Carter, The Washington Times (Washington, DC)

Companies facing the prospect of having to part with valuable trade secrets to gain access to the Chinese market will have a new tool if China joins the World Trade Organization.

The Clinton administration hopes - but organized labor doubts - that companies will be able to resist a practice known as forced technology transfer if Congress approves a landmark agreement to bring China into the WTO.

"The WTO agreement gives companies that want to resist it a legal basis to do so," said Kevin Dempsey, a lawyer for the Semiconductor Industry Association, which has closely followed Chinese technology policies.

But organized labor fiercely opposes normalized trade relations with China, arguing that China's promises can't be believed and doubting that American companies will quit sharing their secrets.

Questia, a part of Gale, Cengage Learning. www.questia.com
Publication information: Article title: WTO Pact May Guard Trade Secrets. Contributors: Dougherty, Carter - Author. Newspaper title: The Washington Times (Washington, DC). Publication date: March 28, 2000. Page number: 7. © 2009 The Washington Times LLC. COPYRIGHT 2000 Gale Group.

This material is protected by copyright and, with the exception of fair use, may not be further copied, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means.