2015 Special 301 Report Ambassador Michael B.G. Froman United States Trade Representative ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The Office of the United States Trade Representative is responsible for the preparation of this Report. United States Trade Representative Michael Froman gratefully acknowledges the contributions of staff to the writing and production of this Report, and extends his thanks to partner agencies, including the following Departments and agencies: State; Treasury; Justice; Agriculture; Commerce, including the International Trade Administration and the United States Patent and Trademark Office; Labor; Health and Human Services, including the Food and Drug Administration; Homeland Security, including Customs and Border Protection, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and the National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center; and the United States Agency for International Development. Ambassador Froman also recognizes the contributions of the Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator as well as those of the United States Copyright Office. In preparing the Report, substantial information was solicited from U.S. Embassies around the world, from U.S. Government agencies, and from interested stakeholders. The draft of this Report was developed through the Special 301 Subcommittee of the inter-agency Trade Policy Staff Committee. April 2015 TABLE OF CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY .................................................................................................................... 1 The Special 301 Process .............................................................................................................. 1 Public Engagement ............................................................................................................................. 2 Country Placement ............................................................................................................................. 2 The 2015 Special 301 List ......................................................................................................... 3 Out-of-Cycle Reviews ................................................................................................................. 4 Country-Specific Out-of-Cycle Reviews ........................................................................................ 4 Out-of-Cycle Review of Notorious Markets .................................................................................. 5 Structure of the Special 301 Report ............................................................................................ 5 SECTION I. DEVELOPMENTS IN INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS PROTECTION AND ENFORCEMENT ........................................................................................... 6 Initiatives to Strengthen IPR Protection and Enforcement Internationally ................................. 6 Positive Developments ...................................................................................................................... 6 Best IPR Practices by Trading Partners .......................................................................................... 8 Multilateral and Plurilateral Initiatives ............................................................................................ 9 Regional and Bilateral Initiatives ................................................................................................... 11 Trends in Trademark Counterfeiting and Copyright Piracy...................................................... 12 Trademark Issues and Domain Name Disputes ........................................................................... 16 Government Use of Licensed Software ......................................................................................... 17 Digital Piracy, Piracy Online, and Broadcast Piracy ................................................................... 17 IPR Protection and Market Access Challenges Affecting Multiple Industry Sectors............... 20 Trade Secrets ..................................................................................................................................... 20 Localization, Indigenous Innovation, and Forced Technology Transfer .................................. 21 Challenges Affecting the Copyright and the Information and Communications Technology Sectors ................................................................................................................................................ 23 Market Access and Pharmaceutical and Medical Device Innovation ....................................... 24 Geographical Indications ................................................................................................................. 26 Intellectual Property and the Environment................................................................................ 27 Intellectual Property and Health ................................................................................................ 28 Implementation of the WTO TRIPS Agreement....................................................................... 29 WTO Dispute Settlement ................................................................................................................ 29 The Interagency Trade Enforcement Center ................................................................................. 31 SECTION II. COUNTRY REPORTS.............................................................................................. 32 PRIORITY WATCH LIST .................................................................................................... 32 East Asia and Pacific ....................................................................................................................... 32 China Indonesia Thailand South and Central Asia .................................................................................................................... 45 India Pakistan Near East, including North Africa ................................................................................................. 53 Algeria Kuwait Europe and Eurasia .......................................................................................................................... 54 Russia Ukraine Western Hemisphere ........................................................................................................................ 56 Argentina Chile Ecuador Venezuela WATCH LIST ......................................................................................................................... 59 East Asia and Pacific ....................................................................................................................... 59 Vietnam South and Central Asia .................................................................................................................... 59 Tajikistan Turkmenistan Uzbekistan Near East ........................................................................................................................................... 61 Egypt Lebanon Europe and Eurasia .......................................................................................................................... 62 Belarus Bulgaria Greece Romania Turkey Western Hemisphere ........................................................................................................................ 66 Canada Mexico Costa Rica Dominican Republic Guatemala Barbados Jamaica Trinidad and Tobago Bolivia Brazil Colombia Paraguay Peru ANNEX 1. SPECIAL 301 STATUTORY BASIS .............................................................................. 74 ANNEX 2. UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT-SPONSORED TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE AND CAPACITY BUILDING .............................................................................................................. 75 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The Special 301 Report (Report) is the result of an annual review of the state of intellectual property rights (IPR) protection and enforcement in U.S. trading partners around the world, which the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) conducts pursuant to Section 182 of the Trade Act of 1974, as amended by the Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act of 1988 and the Uruguay Round Agreements Act (19 U.S.C. § 2242). This Report reflects the Administration’s continued resolve to encourage and maintain adequate and effective IPR protection and enforcement worldwide. The Report identifies a wide range of concerns, including: (a) the deterioration in IPR protection, enforcement, and market access for persons relying on IPR in a number of trading partners; (b) reported inadequacies in trade secret protection in China, India, and elsewhere, as well as an increasing incidence of trade secret misappropriation; (c) troubling “indigenous innovation” policies that may unfairly disadvantage U.S. rights holders in China; (d) the continuing challenges of online copyright piracy in countries such as Brazil, China, India, and Russia and trademark counterfeiting in China and elsewhere; (e) market access barriers, including nontransparent and discriminatory measures, that appear to impede access to products embodying IPR and measures that impede market access for U.S. entities that rely upon IPR protection; and (f) other ongoing, systemic IPR enforcement issues in many trading partners around the world. The Report serves a critical function by identifying opportunities and challenges facing U.S. innovative and creative industries in foreign markets and by promoting job creation,
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