The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) has released a report examining how effectively intellectual property rights are protected by U.S. global trade partners.
The USTR's 2023 Special 301 Report "details USTR’s findings of more than 100 trading partners after significant research and enhanced engagement with stakeholders," the USTR stated in its April 26 news release.
"This Report provides an opportunity to put a spotlight on foreign countries and the laws, policies, and practices that fail to provide adequate and effective IP protection and enforcement for U.S. inventors, creators, brands, manufacturers, and service providers, which, in turn, harm American workers whose livelihoods are tied to America’s innovation- and creativity-driven sectors," the USTR states in the report.
The report outlines USTR concerns, such as border, criminal and online enforcement efforts against counterfeits; online, broadcast and illicit streaming piracy; inadequate enforcement of trade-secret protection in other countries, including China and Russia; and continuing systemic problems with IP protection and market access with many trading partners, according to the USTR.
"Combating such unfair trade policies can foster American innovation and creativity and increase economic security for American workers and families," the USTR states.
The report also acknowledged several U.S. trading partners for advancing IP protection and enforcement by enacting significant legal reforms, including Thailand, Vietnam and Nigeria, which adopted amendments to their IP laws. Other countries joined major international IP treaties, according to the report.
Other report highlights include the addition of Belarus and Bulgaria to USTR's Watch List, the news release reports. The inclusion of Belarus responds to the country's recent law legalizing the unlicensed use of copyrighted materials if the rights holder is from a country "committing unfriendly actions," such as sanctioning Belarus for its support of Russia's illegal invasion of Ukraine. The law also allows Belarus to transfer royalties from unlicensed use into the country's general budget and thereby financially benefit the authoritarian regime of Alexander Lukashenka, according to the release.
Bulgaria, added to the Watch List due to its inadequate handling of investigations and prosecutions of online piracy cases, will have an opportunity to drop off the list later this year, if an "Out-of-Cycle" review determines the NATO ally has shown progress in fully prosecuting online piracy cases, according to the news release.
The USTR's review of Ukraine remains suspended during Russia's invasion.
The report highlights concerns related to the EU's geographical indications policies and China's IP protection and enforcement. The USTR continues to press trading partners to address concerns on IP protection and enforcement through bilateral engagement under Trade and Investment Frameworks.
The report states U.S. trade policy promoted IP-intensive industries with strong IP protection and enforcement in other countries; and the U.S. encourages ongoing discussions at the World Trade Organization on COVID-19 diagnostics and therapeutics.
“Innovation and creativity are at the heart of American competitiveness," U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai said in the news release. "That is why the Biden-Harris Administration’s new story on trade includes lifting up the 60 million jobs and workers in our IP-intensive industries through robust IP protection and enforcement in foreign countries.
“Our Administration will continue to engage with the trading partners identified in this year’s Report to empower our inventors, creators, and brands, and to demonstrate that trade can deliver tangible results across the American economy,” Tai said.
