May 2, 2012 By Leave a Comment
The U.S. Trade Representative has released the 2012 Special 301 Report, in which is accuses countries of denying “adequate and effective” protection of IPR, or discriminating against American companies that rely on IPR. A short statement accompanying the report says that it “reflects the Administration’s resolve to encourage and maintain effective IPR protection and enforcement worldwide. It identifies a wide range of concerns, including troubling “indigenous innovation” policies that may unfairly disadvantage U.S. rights holders in China, the continuing challenges of copyright piracy over the Internet in countries such as Canada, Italy and Russia, and the ongoing, systemic IPR enforcement issues presented in many trading partners around the world.”This year there are 40 countries listed, after a review of 77. The countries included in the report are:
Priority Watch List (13 countries):
Algeria, Argentina, Canada, Chile, China, India, Indonesia, Israel, Pakistan, Russian federation, Thailand, Ukraine, Venezuela
Watch List (26 countries):
Belarus, Bolivia, Brazil, Brunei, Colombia, Costa Ricda, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, Finland, Greece, Guatemala, Italy, Jamaica, Kuwait, Lebanon, Mexico, Norway, Peru, Philippines, Romania, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Vietnam,
Section 306 Monitoring:
