The report, published annually by the Office of the
USTR
, identifies those countries that deny adequate
and effective protection for
IPR
s or deny fair and
equitable market access for those that rely on intellectual
property protection.
It places countries into a hierarchy of categories, with the
ranking of Priority Foreign Country reserved for the worst
situations – described by the
USTR
as "countries that
fail to enter into good faith negotiations or make significant
progress in bilateral or multilateral negotiations to provide
adequate and effective protection of
IPR
".
Such nations face the possible threat of trade sanctions.
Currently, the Ukraine is the only country in the category, and is
subject to sanctions valued at $75 million.
The second highest ranking is the Priority Watch List, followed
by the Watch List. Countries are placed on these Lists when there
are particular problems in that country with respect to
IPR
protection, enforcement, or market access for
those relying on intellectual property.
This year's report puts 14
US
trading partners on
the Priority Watch List: Argentina, Brazil, China, Egypt, India,
Indonesia, Israel, Kuwait, Lebanon, Pakistan, the Philippines,
Russia, Turkey, and Venezuela.
Thirty-six trading partners have been placed on the Watch List,
meriting bilateral attention to address the underlying IPR
problems: Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Belarus, Belize, Bolivia, Bulgaria,
Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Dominican Republic,
Ecuador, European Union, Guatemala, Hungary, Italy, Jamaica,
Kazakhstan, Korea, Latvia, Lithuania, Malaysia, Mexico, Peru,
Poland, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Slovakia, Taiwan, Tajikistan,
Thailand, Turkmenistan, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam.
The report also announced the results of a special Out-of-Cycle
Review of China's intellectual property regime, concluding that
infringement levels remain unacceptably high throughout China, in
spite of Beijing's efforts to reduce them.
"This year, we are elevating China to the Priority Watch List
for failure to effectively protect intellectual property rights and
to meet its commitment to significantly reduce infringement levels,
despite efforts by China's senior leadership to do so," said Acting
US
Trade Representative Peter Allgeier. "China must
take action to address rampant piracy and counterfeiting, including
increasing the number of criminal
IPR
cases and
further opening its market to legitimate copyright and other
goods."
