The U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) removed Israel from the Special 301 Report Watch List of countries that fail to sufficiently protect intellectual property rights, said USTR Michael Froman in a Feb. 28 announcement. The Israeli passage of patent legislation fulfilled commitments the country made in a 2010 agreement with the U.S. pertaining to intellectual property, said USTR in a press release.

CBP is extending the comment period by 30 days for an existing information collection on importation bond structure. CBP proposes to extend the expiration date of this information collection with no change to the burden hours.

AT&T received between 2,000 and 2,999 national security letters during 2013, affecting between 4,000 and 4,999 customer accounts, said the company’s first national security request transparency report (http://soc.att.com/1j8il6O). The company also received between zero and 999 content requests under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, affecting between 35,000 and 35,999 customer accounts, said the report. The company released its total criminal and civil litigation demand statistics, which revealed 248,343 subpoenas, mostly criminal, 36,788 court orders, and 16,685 search warrants. AT&T challenged or rejected 3,756 of the total 301,816 requests, the report said.

AT&T received between 2,000 and 2,999 national security letters during 2013, affecting between 4,000 and 4,999 customer accounts, said the company’s first national security request transparency report (http://soc.att.com/1j8il6O). The company also received between zero and 999 content requests under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, affecting between 35,000 and 35,999 customer accounts, said the report. The company released its total criminal and civil litigation demand statistics, which revealed 248,343 subpoenas, mostly criminal, 36,788 court orders, and 16,685 search warrants. AT&T challenged or rejected 3,756 of the total 301,816 requests, the report said.

Exporters will be required to report site locations using the full Automated Export System (AES) seven digit reporting format (here), following the implementation of Foreign Trade Regulations changes effective April 5. Exporters will then be required to provide a Foreign Trade Zone (FTZ) identifier when reporting in-bond code 67 (withdrawn for immediate export), or in-bond code 68 (withdrawn for transportation and exportation). The following are examples to ensure accurate reporting:

The generic top-level domain (gTLD) rollout has raised concerns about the ability of domain registries to adequately protect against cybersquatting, particularly in foreign countries, said a Verizon official, in comments submitted to the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) in its Special 301 review Friday (WID Feb 10 p8). Confusing intellectual property protections with “censorship” is counterproductive, said the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in comments. China presents some intellectual property concerns, said both the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) and the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP).

Foreign copyright piracy and “market access barriers” to U.S. copyrighted material have a “significant negative financial impact on the U.S. economy and content creators,” said the International Intellectual Property Alliance (IIPA) in comments submitted to the U.S Trade Representative (USTR) in its Special 301 review, according to an IIPA release Friday (http://bit.ly/1iCXxni). USTR’s Special 301 review asks for comments to “address the theft of intellectual property” and other copyright concerns, said the IIPA release. China, India, Russia and Vietnam should be on the USTR Priority Watch List, said the IIPA, in the release. China and Canada are a “particular concern” for the publishing industry, said the Association of American Publishers (AAP), an IIPA member, in its USTR comments, according to an AAP release Friday (http://bit.ly/1l7PvEu).

Foreign copyright piracy and “market access barriers” to U.S. copyrighted material have a “significant negative financial impact on the U.S. economy and content creators,” said the International Intellectual Property Alliance (IIPA) in comments submitted to the U.S Trade Representative (USTR) in its Special 301 review, according to an IIPA release (here). USTR's Special 301 review asks for comments to “address the theft of intellectual property” and other copyright concerns, said the IIPA release. China, India, Russia and Vietnam should be on the USTR Priority Watch List, said the IIPA, in the release. China and Canada are a “particular concern” for the publishing industry, said the Association of American Publishers (AAP), an IIPA member, in its USTR comments, according to an AAP release (here).

The Census Bureau, in conjunction with CBP, is beginning a pilot program to evaluate a new Automated Export System (AES) filing option that may replace postdeparture filing if the pilot program is successful, and is asking for applications from exporters to participate. The Advance Export Information (AEI) pilot is a voluntary program where participants submit limited Electronic Export Information (EEI) before export, and then file the rest of their EEI within five days after the date of export.

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative is seeking comments on foreign nations that deny “adequate and effective” intellectual property rights (IPR) protection and “fair and equitable” market access for U.S. companies and individuals that rely on IPR. USTR is requesting comment on whether particular trading partners should be identified as Priority Foreign Countries or placed on the Priority Watch List or Watch List. USTR outlined the following comment submission schedule: