This is what he had to say yesterday in Shanghai, according to Counterfeitlawblog:

Speaking in Shanghai today, U.S. Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez applauded the Chinese government’s decision to require that all PCs made in China, or imported into China, be pre-loaded with legitimate software and that its own agencies buy computers with pre-loaded, licensed software. He then went on to reiterate the “three specific challenges facing China that need to be addressed in the very near term” that he had announced Tuesday. These are:

1. Lowering criminal thresholds for prosecuting those involved in commercial piracy and counterfeiting;

2. Allowing greater market access for audiovisual products, and

3. Sharing factories’ pirated disc exemplars with the international laboratories that trace pirated optical discs to their source.

Gutierrez said that these “are important improvements in IPR that have gone unaddressed by the Chinese for too long.”

OK, my only question is whether he is getting a regular salary from the motion picture association or if he is doing their bidding for free? I used to do a lot of work for a major motion picture studio, so I am not a Hollywood basher or anything. I have also met with some of the local people from MPAA and found them to be very nice folks that were dealing with a very difficult situation over here.

However, having the U.S. Secretary of Commerce carry their water like that while ignoring a lot of other guys is simply unacceptable. Perhaps it is not wise for an IP lawyer to make comments like that, but you gotta call ‘em like you see ‘em. I have lots of US clients with IP problems that never get that kind of attention; after a while, it gets annoying.