"I think we would take a serious look if we could bring the evidence together to make that case to the WTO," US Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick said during remarks at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank.

The US Chamber of Commerce has estimated US companies lose more than $200 billion in China each year because of sales of counterfeited and pirated goods.

But most US business groups "have been a little slow coming forward with the evidence" the United States needs to bring a WTO complaint against China for failing to enforce its intellectual property right laws, Zoellick said.

"There is one segment of the industry dealing with the copyrights that has brought forward more evidence," Zoellick said. "It may be good to pick off a sector in intellectual property," if a broader case can't be brought, he said.

US music, movie and software industry groups estimate they lose between $2.5 billion to $3.8 billion annually in China through sales of illegal copies of their products.

Zoellick was US trade representative until moving to the State Department earlier this year. He said his old agency had the lead on what, if any, case would be brought against China.

Sen. Byron Dorgan, a North Dakota Democrat, introduced a resolution in the Senate on Monday urging the Bush administration to immediately bring a WTO complaint against China for intellectual property rights violations.

The US trade deficit with China, which hit a record $162 billion in 2004, is out of control and Beijing's "rampant trade cheating" has got to stop, Dorgan said.