GENEVA – China has agreed to open up its market for entertainment goods by March 19 next year in line with a World Trade Organization ruling, China and the United States said on Wednesday.

The United States had challenged China's controls to imports and distribution of books, music, films and other entertainment products, and China finally lost an appeal in the case at the WTO last December.

China had argued that entertainment goods should be handled differently from other imports because of their cultural impact. But the United States said that the Chinese controls robbed Hollywood and US publishers and music producers of the chance to make substantial sales, leaving the market to pirates.

A letter from the Chinese and US ambassadors to the WTO, published on the WTO website on Wednesday, said the two countries had agreed that China should implement the WTO's ruling within 14 months of its adoption by the global trade body on January 19 this year.