{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.cotton.senate.gov/news/press-releases/cotton-colleagues-china-shouldn-and-146t-lead-world-intellectual-property-organization", "Cotton, Colleagues: China Shouldn\u0092t Lead World Intellectual Property Organization", "2019-12-17", "2019", "2019-12", "Republican", "Senate", "AR", "Tom Cotton", "C001095", "www.cotton.senate.gov", "cotton", "https://www.cotton.senate.gov/news/press-releases", "scraper", "FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE\n\nContact: Caroline Tabler or James Arnold (202) 224-2353\n\nDecember 17, 2019\n\nCotton, Colleagues: China Shouldn\u2019t Lead World Intellectual Property Organization\n\nWashington, D.C. \u2014 Senators Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas) and Chuck Schumer (D-New York), along with Representatives Jimmy Panetta (D-California) and Mike Gallagher (R-Wisconsin), sent a letter urging the president to strongly oppose China\u2019s efforts to lead the World Intellectual Property Organization at the United Nations.\n\nIn the letter, the lawmakers write that China\u2019s persistent violations of intellectual property protections\u2014as well as the Chinese Communist Party\u2019s aggressive industrial policies and technology practices that undermine U.S. innovation\u2014present serious risks to the United States\u2019 economic leadership and security. Those risks include Huawei Technologies, which was the top corporate filer of international patent applications to the World Intellectual Property Organization in 2018.\n\nThe lawmakers\u2019 letter to the president may be found here. The text is below.\n\nPresident Donald Trump\n\nThe White House\n\n1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW\n\nWashington, DC 20500\n\nDear Mr. President:\n\nWe write to express our concern about China\u2019s intent to lead the World Intellectual Property Organization at the United Nations and the threat this poses to both U.S. economic security and the integrity of international intellectual property rights and standards.\n\nLast month, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) reportedly nominated a candidate to head this organization, which was established as a global forum for intellectual property policy and cooperation and to promote the protection of intellectual property throughout the world. Given China\u2019s persistent violations of intellectual property protections, including through trade secret theft, corporate espionage, and forced transfer of technology, the United States and its allies must stand firmly against such a move.\n\nThe CCP is strategically investing in and developing critical and emerging technologies as part of Made in China 2025 and other aggressive industrial policies. These initiatives include a patchwork of practices and tactics which coerce American companies to transfer their technology and intellectual property to domestic Chinese corporations with the effect of undermining U.S. innovation and economic leadership. In addition, Chinese telecommunications company Huawei Technologies, which is thought to be influenced by the CCP and presents clear risks to U.S. national security, was the top corporate filer of international patent applications to the World Intellectual Property Organization in 2018.\n\nYour administration has repeatedly expressed concerns about the shortcomings in China\u2019s intellectual property regime. Notably, the Office of the United States Trade Representative\u2019s (USTR) Special 301 Report declares China a \u201cprecarious and uncertain environment\u201d for U.S. owners of all types of intellectual property. China also remains on USTR\u2019s Priority Watch List for failing to make fundamental changes to strengthen intellectual property protection and enforcement and for engaging in harmful conduct, including unauthorized intrusions and theft from networks of U.S. companies.\n\nMr. President, you have also accused China of \u201ctheft of intellectual property and also trade secrets on a grand scale\u201d in an address to the United Nations General Assembly in September. We cannot let a regime, which continues to blatantly undermine the rules-based system by failing to ensure open markets or respect for intellectual property rights, ascend as the leader of global intellectual property policy.\n\nTherefore, we urge you to oppose China\u2019s leadership in the World Intellectual Property Organization and take the necessary diplomatic steps to ensure our allies and partners do the same before the Director General election next spring.\n\nSincerely,", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-06-27T23:45:33Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.cotton.senate.gov/news/press-releases/cotton-colleagues-china-shouldn-and-146t-lead-world-intellectual-property-organization"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.7871426641941071, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}