U.S. and Japan team against piracy

[Ron Burgundy]

AP - Japan and the United States agreed Monday to make it easier for inventors in one country to patent their ideas in the other country — part of joint efforts to fight global piracy of copyrighted goods.

Japanese Trade Minister Akira Amari and Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez said they will work to expand the program, which will begin in July, to other countries, making it more difficult for counterfeiters to operate under a streamlined international patent system.

Amari told reporters that "the whole world will be able to benefit from this endeavor by having Japan and the United States be a global model."

The program allows a patent accepted by one country to be eligible for a speedy examination in the other country.

China was not mentioned by either Amari or Gutierrez, but pirated U.S. products in China are a key source of tension between Beijing and Washington. China is believed to be the world's leading source of pirated goods, ranging from Hollywood movies to designer clothes, sports equipment to medicine.

Japan and the United States have a "mutual interest in seeing intellectual property rights respected the world over," Gutierrez told reporters. The U.S.-Japan patent program "can benefit the whole world," he said.

Last month, the U.S. trade envoy, Susan Schwab, urged Japan to speed up economic changes the United States says are needed to provide better opportunities for American companies hoping to crack the Japanese market.

As part of an annual exchange of recommendations, Schwab asked Japanese officials to strengthen regulatory clarity, boost protection for copyrighted material and improve access to medical devices and drugs.

Separately, Amari addressed another trade issue between the countries: U.S. beef imports, which were banned for 2 1/2 years because of mad cow fears. Though Tokyo eased the blanket ban in July, lingering trade restrictions have allowed only a trickle of U.S. beef back into the country.

Amari said he believed U.S. beef imports would strengthen, despite competition from Australian beef. "Among the Japanese beef lovers, there are many fans of U.S. beef," Amari said. "Time should be able to solve this issue."