III 

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. CON. RES. 28 

Expressing the sense of the Congress on World Intellectual Property Day 

regarding the importance of protecting intellectual property rights globally. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

APRIL 26, 2005 

Mr. LUGAR (for himself, Mr. BAUCUS, Mr. ALLEN, Mr. HATCH, Mr. DEWINE, 

Mr. NELSON of Florida, Mr. COLEMAN, Mr. LEAHY, and Mr. CHAFEE) 

submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was considered and 

agreed to 

CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 

Expressing the sense of the Congress on World Intellectual 

Property Day regarding the importance of protecting 

intellectual property rights globally. 

Whereas protection of intellectual property is critical to our 

nation’s economic competitiveness, cultural diversity, 

health and scientific development; 

Whereas the United States economy depends increasingly on 

the work of authors, artists, inventors, programmers, and 

many others who create intellectual products of high 

value; 

Whereas theft of intellectual property results in competitive 

disadvantages to United States industries and job losses 
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for American workers, and for the United States economy as a whole; 

Whereas the copyright industries employ approximately 

11,500,000 workers or 8.41 percent of total employment 

in the United States, a number that approaches the levels 

of employment in the health care and social assistance 

sector (15,300,000 employees) and the entire manufacturing sector (14,500,000 workers in 21 manufacturing 

industries); 

Whereas there is great concern about the failure of many of 

our trading partners to live up to their international obligations in the area of intellectual property protection; 

Whereas counterfeiting of copyrighted products in digital and 

other formats, as well as counterfeiting of all types of 

trademarked products, has grown to an enormous scale; 

Whereas many of our trading partners, in particular Russia 

and China, have laws in place to prevent piracy and 

counterfeiting, but are failing to enforce the laws; 

Whereas Russia and China alone are responsible for over 

$4,000,000,000 in losses a year to United States industries due to piracy; 

Whereas piracy in Russia and China is open, notorious, and 

permitted to operate without meaningful hindrance from 

the governments of those countries; 

Whereas China should be encouraged to meet its intellectual 

property protection obligations as a member of the World 

Trade Organization (WTO); 

Whereas Russia should be encouraged to explore means to 

provide effective piracy protection enabling compliance 

with the rules set forth by the WTO; 
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Whereas the United States Government must convey to these 

countries that failure to act will have political and economic consequences for relationships with the United 

States; and 

Whereas Congress has enacted legislation regarding the protection of intellectual property, including measures which 

direct the Administration to censure countries that fail to 

provide adequate and effective protection for intellectual 

property: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives 

2 concurring), That— 

3 (1) the Administration should utilize effective 

4 remedies and solutions in addressing the lack of in5 tellectual property protection in China and Russia, 

6 using all available tools provided by Congress; 

7 (2) the Administration should ensure that any 

8 country that enjoys benefits under the Generalized 

9 System of Preferences (GSP) program, such as Rus10 sia, lives up to its obligations to provide adequate 

11 and effective protection for intellectual property 

12 rights, or lose its eligibility to participate in trade 

13 preference programs; 

14 (3) the Administration should ensure that ac15 tion is taken against any country with which the 

16 United States shares mutual commitments under the 

17 WTO, such as China, when the country fails to live 

18 up to its WTO commitments; 
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1 (4) the Administration should urge Russia to 

2 promote measures to enforce intellectual property 

3 protection which will enable compliance with the in4 tellectual property commitments required by the 

5 WTO; and 

6 (5) the President should take any additional ac7 tion the President considers appropriate to protect 

8 the intellectual property rights of United States 

9 businesses. 

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