USTR Issues Annual Special 301 Report on Intellectual Property Protection
Today the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative released its annual "Special 301" report on the adequacy and effectiveness of intellectual property rights (IPR) protection in trading partners around the world. The report found that although several countries have taken positive steps to improve their IPR regimes, the lack of IPR protection and enforcement continues to be a global problem. The report calls for certain governments to take stronger actions to combat commercial piracy and counterfeiting.
The USTR stated that due to Ukraine’s persistent failure to take effective action against "significant
levels of optical media piracy and to implement intellectual property laws that provide adequate and
effective protection" Ukraine will continue to be designated a Priority Foreign Country and
the $75 million in sanctions imposed on Ukrainian products on January 23, 2002 will remain in place.
USTR placed 33 trading partners on the "watch list" for IPR violations: Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bolivia, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Malaysia, Mexico, Peru, Poland, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Slovak Republic, Tajikistan, Thailand, Turkmenistan, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, Venezuela and Vietnam.
Another 16 trading partners are incluced on the "priority watch list," which entails greater scrutiny. Eleven of these -- Argentina, Bahamas, Brazil, EU, India, Indonesia, Lebanon, Philippines, Poland, Russia and Taiwan -- were on last year's priority list. The other five -- Egypt, Korea, Kuwait, Pakistan and Turkey -- were moved this year from the watch list to the priority list.
USTR again designated China and Paraguay for "Section 306" monitoring. Being placed under Section 306 monitoring means that the USTR can move directly to the application of trade sanctions against either country if monitoring shows a slippage in enforcement of bilateral intellectual property rights agreements.
The USTR also noted some positive developments in global adherence to IPR enforcement. These include the passage of new legislation on protecting optical discs in Poland and the Philippines, and recent moves in Romania to ensure procurement of legitimate software for use in government ministries. USTR also noted that Malaysia, Poland and Taiwan have begun to increase their IPR enforcement measures.
The USTR's Special 301 Report can be found at the following Web Site: http://www.ustr.gov/reports/2004-301/special301.htm.
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