Yesterday, Representative John Curtis introduced the Combatting China’s Pilfering of Intellectual Property (CCP IP) Act to pressure the Chinese Communist Party until they end their state strategy of stealing the intellectual property (IP) of American companies.

“I have heard from numerous constituents that saw their IP stolen by China, frequently resulting in copycat products being sold on sites like Temu,” said Rep. Curtis. “The CCP IP Act directly punishes those who steal American IP and broadly puts pressure on the Chinese Communist Party to stop their intentional strategy of stealing from everyday Americans.”

FBI Agent Fitzgibbons, who covers national security breaches in Idaho, Montana and Utah recently said, “They [the Chinese Communist Party] have a motto of rob, replicate and replace,” said Fitzgibbons. “They want to steal our trade secrets when it comes to our economy. With our corporations, they want to replicate and eventually replace us in the global marketplace.” 

The FBI also found the annual cost to the U.S. economy of counterfeit goods, pirated software, and theft of trade secrets is $225–$600 billion.

To pressure China to crack down on IP theft the bill imposes layers of penalties on bad actors working to steal American IP. First, it imposes financial sanctions on companies, government entities, and individuals. Further, it imposes broad visa bans on Party and government officials until China takes meaningful steps to stop IP theft.

These visa bans would include:

• Senior officials in the Chinese Communist Party, including the Politburo, the Central Committee, and each delegate to the 19th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party and their family members.
• Members of the cabinet of the Government
• Active-duty members of the People’s Liberation Army.

BACKGROUND

The GOP China Task Force report, which Congressman John Curtis served on, found that:

• The CCP seeks to damage or destroy the value of the IP of U.S. businesses, thereby inflicting economic harm to the U.S., while simultaneously enabling PRC firms to profit from the theft of that IP. Moreover, the CCP seeks to disrupt the U.S. economy by exploiting the IP systems of the U.S. to give PRC firms an edge over U.S. competitors, such as by raising costs or creating obstacles for U.S. businesses.
• The CCP seeks to overtake the U.S. as the global leader in technology through IP theft, industrial espionage, and other hostile acts, which are conducted through official state actions as well as unofficial/covert state actions and policies that incentivize malign activity by non-state actors in the PRC.
• In FY 2019, approximately 92 percent of IP-related seizures by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) originated in the PRC (including Hong Kong).

For bill text, click here.

Additional Coverage:
ABC4: Rep. Curtis revives effort to stop Chinese intellectual property theft with bill banning some visas

Rep. John Curtis responds to calls for his arrest in Hong Kong