President Obama Highlights Industry Concerns about Intellectual Property Protections in China

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer today joined a number of U.S. and Chinese business leaders for a meeting at the White House with President Barack Obama and Chinese President Hu Jintao. 

At the meeting, Ballmer highlighted the importance of intellectual property, or IP, to the future success and economic development of both countries, and noted the serious IP piracy problems that currently exist in China. 

In a joint news conference with President Hu, following the meeting with business leaders,  President Obama underscored the importance of IP and the need for greater IP enforcement in China.  Specifically, the President said:
    
“Some of it has to do with intellectual property protection. So we were just in a meeting with business leaders, and Steve Ballmer of Microsoft pointed out that their estimate is that only one customer in every 10 of their products is actually paying for it in China.  And so can we get better enforcement, since that is an area where America excels — intellectual property and high-value added products and services.”

Other topics covered in the joint news conference included currency and human rights.

You can read the full White House transcript here.

More information regarding Microsoft’s efforts against counterfeit software is available here.

 

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