More Effective Anti-Piracy Tools Needed, IP Groups Tell USTR
International online piracy is a chronic problem that continues to harm U.S. copyright holders, content groups told the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) for its 2012 Special 301 review (http://xrl.us/bmrn5z). Rights holders said international piracy hot spots like China, Canada, Russia and Brazil should remain on the USTR list of intellectual property-infringing markets. Comments were due Friday, though foreign governments have until Feb. 17 to file.
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The International Intellectual Property Alliance (IIPA) asked that Argentina, Canada, Chile China, Chile, Costa Rica, India, Russia and Thailand and remain on the USTR priority watch list. IIPA said Ukraine should be elevated to the priority watch list because of “very weak enforcement and very high piracy rates,” and Indonesia should be added to the priority watch list because it’s a market “dominated by pirated material” and has “some of the most restrictive market access barriers in the region.”
IIPA asked the USTR to add or maintain 22 countries to its 2012 watch list: Belarus, Brazil, Brunei, Colombia, Egypt, Greece, Israel, Italy, Kazakhstan, Lebanon, Malaysia, Mexico, Philippines, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Switzerland, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam. The U.S. government must increase deterrence and enforcement of online copyright piracy, provide adequate legal frameworks for the protection of copyright online, curb the use of circumvention tools and illegal motion picture camcording, and push for anti-piracy standards in global treaties, the filing said.
IIPA commended Spain for its “prompt implementation” of the Law on the Sustainable Economy, which aims to fight online and physical copyright theft. “This gives us tremendous hope that this government will take the kind of robust action needed to effect meaningful changes in online and physical markets,” the filing said.
The RIAA repeated its call to add the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to the USTR’s watch list due to the country’s “continued failure to provide adequate and effective protection of the intellectual property rights.” RIAA lambasted the country for failing to implement a regulatory regime that provides rights holders with royalty income stemming from the broadcast and public performance of recorded music.
The American Association of Independent Music (A2IM) did not identify any specific countries to add to the Special 301 list but asked the USTR for broad assistance to “advance a worldwide enforceable regime for the protection of intellectual property online.” In a clear reference to the stalled congressional effort to implement anti-piracy legislation, A2IM said the fight against international online piracy is not just a fight between Silicon Valley and Hollywood: “It is a fight for [small- and medium-sized music enterprises] that want to create intellectual property artistry that creates cultural diversity, innovation, jobs and exports.”
Nintendo recommended that USTR continue to list China on its priority watch list and keep Brazil, Mexico and Spain on the 2012 Special 301 watch list. Nintendo urged Canada to enact laws that provide rights holders with “necessary protections” and ensure sufficient funding for authorities to enforce such laws.