The United States has defeated China in a wide-ranging ruling at the World Trade Organization that could provide massive market opportunities for American makers of everything from CDs and DVDs to music downloads and books.
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The verdict Wednesday finds definitively against China for forcing American media producers to route their business in China through Chinese state-owned companies. It could also set a larger precedent for others such as U.S. automakers claiming to be hampered by cumbersome distribution rules in the communist country.
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The WTO victory comes as President Barack Obama is being pressed to be tough on trade rules with China, which many Democrats in the U.S. Congress blame for America’s soaring trade deficits and lost manufacturing jobs.
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The Associated Press reported the main findings of the then-confidential ruling last month, but the public release of the 464-page document on Wednesday revealed dozens of smaller decisions that support the complaints of trade associations representing record labels such as EMI and Sony BMG; publishers including McGraw Hill and Simon Schuster; and, to a lesser extent, the major Hollywood studios of Warner Bros., Disney, Paramount, Universal and 20th Century Fox.
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It also offers hopes of greater business for Apple Inc.’s iTunes store, finding that China was breaking trade rules by preventing companies offering music downloads to computers and mobile phones from offering their services directly to Chinese customers.
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The ruling stopped short of a complete U.S. victory as the three-member panel delivered mixed findings on Chinese censorship rules that apply to American-made goods, but not to Chinese products. It also permitted China to make U.S. films go through one of two designated distributors to be shown in Chinese cinemas, a requirement not required of Chinese movies.
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The Chinese Commerce Ministry could not immediately be reached, but U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk called the ruling a significant…