USTR Seeks Comments on IPR Special 301 Internet & Physical Markets "Notorious" List
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative is requesting comments by October 26, 2011, identifying potential Internet and physical markets outside the U.S. that have been the subject of enforcement action or that may merit further investigation for possible intellectual property infringements to be included in its 2011 Notorious Markets List.
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Export Compliance Daily combines U.S. export control news, foreign border import regulation and policy developments into a single daily information service that reliably informs its trade professional readers about important current issues affecting their operations.
(Pursuant to the 2010 Joint Strategic Plan on Intellectual Property Enforcement, USTR began publishing the Notorious Markets List separately from the annual Special 301 report in which it had previously been included. USTR published the first Out-of-Cycle Review of Notorious Markets in February 2011. See ITT's Online Archives or 05/03/11 and 03/01/11 news, 11050319 and 11030126, for BP summaries.)
U.S. Uses List to Encourage Authorities to Step Up Efforts Against Piracy
Notorious markets are those where counterfeit or pirated products are prevalent. Through the Notorious Markets List, the U.S. encourages the responsible authorities to step up efforts to combat piracy and counterfeiting in these and similar markets.
USTR Invites Comments to Help Identify Notorious Markets
The Special 301 Subcommittee invites written submissions from the public concerning potential examples of Internet and physical notorious markets. According to USTR, comments should be as detailed as possible and clearly identify the reason or reasons why the nature or scope of activity associated with the identified market or markets exemplify such a problem. Information that would be particularly helpful would include: location; principal owners/operators (if known); types of products sold, distributed, or otherwise made available; information on the volume of Internet traffic associated with the website; etc.
2010 List Identified 34 Physical and Virtual Markets
The 2010 Notorious Markets List identified 34 markets, including four Internet markets Baidu, 91.com, Taobao, ThePirateBay and torrentz.com, etc. and 17 physical markets in China, India, Paraguay, Colombia and Mexico.
USTR Contact -- Paula Pinha (202) 395-5419
(DN USTR-2011-0012, FR Pub 09/22/11)