The U.S. Trade Representative should name China a Priority Foreign Country because of alleged trade secret theft by the country, Democratic leaders of the House Ways and Means Committee said March 28. “We have known for some time that the Government of China does not do enough to enforce the intellectual property of U.S. innovators in China. But government-sponsored theft of trade secrets would put China in an entirely different category,” said Committee Ranking Member Sandy Levin, D-Mich., and Trade Subcommittee Ranking Member Charles Rangel, D-N.Y. in a letter sent to Acting USTR Demetrios Marantis. “Given the evidence of this egregious conduct, the corresponding damage to our businesses, and the fact that China is in breach of its [World Trade Organization] obligations, we urge you to consider designating China a Priority Foreign Country for Special 301 purposes.”
A significant number of Food and Drug Administration food facility registrations that were not renewed by Jan. 31 are currently in the process of being modified to an invalid status by FDA, said CBP in a CSMS message. As a result, imported food shipments manufactured by those facilities without valid registrations may be held at the port or refused upon arrival in the U.S., it said.
Correction: The International Intellectual Property Alliance (IIPA) asked the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) to elevate Costa Rica to the Priority Watch List in the Special 301 process; IIPA also asked the USTR to keep Argentina, Chile, China, India, Indonesia, and Russia on the Priority Watch List (see ITT's Online Archives 13022126).
Tech groups hailed the White House for its new trade-secret theft mitigation initiative, announced Wednesday. The effort involves the departments of Commerce, Justice, Defense, Homeland Security, State and Treasury and the offices of the Director of National Intelligence, National Counterintelligence Executive and U.S. Trade Representative (USTR). It arrives against the backdrop of major Internet companies, including Facebook, Twitter and Apple, announcing this month that hackers had installed malware on employees’ computers (WID Feb 20 p7). Beyond the recruitment of current or former employees by foreign competitors -- “some with ties to foreign governments” -- to illicitly obtain trade secrets, “there are indications” that U.S. companies, law firms, academia and financial institutions “are experiencing cyber intrusion activity against electronic repositories containing trade secret information,” said the White House strategy document (http://1.usa.gov/VL0Q57). The pillars of the strategy are to: (1) Focus diplomatic efforts to protect trade secrets abroad. This includes having State schedule senior administration officials to meet with foreign governments “where there are regular incidents of trade secret theft or that may be complicit in trade secret theft,” have the Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) incorporate trade-secret theft into ongoing Intellectual Property Rights Working Group plans at U.S. embassies, and better incorporate the subject into processes such as USTR’s Special 301 review and the Trans Pacific Partnership talks (see report above in this issue), among other activities. (2) Promote voluntary best practices by industry. The “anonymous or pseudonymous nature of the Internet” contributes to “growing challenges in protecting trade secrets,” and the U.S. Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator (IPEC) can facilitate the development of best practices through groups that are already “crafting industry driven initiatives,” the document said. It suggested areas for consideration include “research and development compartmentalization,” information and physical security policies, and human resources policies. (3) Enhance domestic law enforcement operations, building on the work of the Attorney General’s Task Force on Intellectual Property, which since 2010 has led to 29 percent more trade-secret theft investigations by the FBI. The document said the FBI is expanding its efforts to fight computer intrusions involving trade secrets. (4) Improve domestic legislation. The document points to bills already signed into law by President Barack Obama, which “closed a loophole” in federal law that allowed theft of trade-secret “source code” and increased criminal penalties for economic espionage and directed the U.S. Sentencing Commission to consider raising penalties for such crimes. The administration through IPEC will work with federal agencies to review existing laws to see if trade secret-specific changes are needed. (5) Public awareness outreach through the existing StopFakes.gov counterfeit educational site and the PTO’s “road show” trainings, among other initiatives. Attorney General Eric Holder said at a White House event on the initiative rollout Wednesday that the explosion of smartphones, tablets and other Internet devices, plus the expansion of cloud computing, will “create more access points and vulnerabilities that allow criminals to steal confidential information” (http://1.usa.gov/ZkE3tU). There’s a road map for fighting back against such Internet-facilitated crime, he said, pointing back to his tenure as deputy attorney general in the Clinton administration, when the doubling of Internet usage in the U.S. was immediately followed by a 30 percent spike in intellectual property crimes from 1998 to 1999. Justice has “refined our approach” as it secured more than 100 convictions in trade secrets cases between 2001 and 2011, gathering “valuable intelligence” and forging “strong relationships with law enforcement partners, private sector experts, and international allies,” Holder said. Information Technology Industry Council President Dean Garfield said at the White House event (http://bit.ly/UND6vq) the initiative would ameliorate the problem of “industry silos,” where “it is our tendency to work in the semiconductor industry or in the photovoltaic or otherwise.” Industries that work across silos can get “the best out of those [individual] best practices” and optimize their learning, he said. Industry must build on “existing infrastructure” for best practices, such as The Center for Responsible Enterprise and Trade and the private sector’s work with the National Institute of Standards and Technology in “consensus-based voluntary standards,” Garfield said. Another problem for industry is that companies tend to pursue “their civil remedies,” he said: The White House plan will provide “greater clarity around what it takes to advance a criminal case,” such as the “thresholds” for when the government will pursue a case. BSA/The Software Alliance, previously known as the Business Software Alliance (WID Oct 12 p10), separately hailed the initiative. “Combating theft of software developers’ intellectual property, including trade secrets, has long been BSA’s top priority,” said BSA President Robert Holleyman. Trade-secret theft “poses a serious and growing threat to the software industry around the world."
The Obama administration announced plans Feb. 20 to combat the theft of U.S. trade secrets; a coordinated effort between government agencies and the private sector with effects that it said will ripple through the administration’s trade agenda. The plan includes an increase in enforcement efforts and a proposed provision in the still-unfinalized Trans-Pacific Partnership that would offer rights holders remedies similar to those under U.S. law, such as criminal prosecutions for trade secret theft, said Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Demetrios Marantis at the announcement.
Ukraine’s government is implementing the intellectual property rights (IPR) “action plan” it developed in consultation with the U.S. and hopes to fix remaining IP issues through forthcoming legislation, said Serhii Nalyvaiko, head of the State Intellectual Property Service of Ukraine’s control over IP objects use division, during a Special 301 review hearing Wednesday at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR). Nalyvaiko’s testimony came as the USTR-led Special 301 Committee considers whether to designate Ukraine as a “priority foreign country” (PFC) under the Special 301 statute.
Ukraine’s government is implementing the intellectual property rights (IPR) “action plan” it developed in consultation with the U.S. and hopes to fix remaining IP issues through forthcoming legislation, said Serhii Nalyvaiko, head of the State Intellectual Property Service of Ukraine’s control over IP objects use division, during a Special 301 review hearing Wednesday at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR). Nalyvaiko’s testimony came as the USTR-led Special 301 Committee considers whether to designate Ukraine as a “priority foreign country” (PFC) under the Special 301 statute.
The International Intellectual Property Alliance (IIPA) asked the USTR to maintain the priority foreign country (PFC) designations for Argentina, Chile, China, Costa Rica, India, Indonesia and Russia. The group also asked USTR to keep 25 nations on its so-called watch list and to restore PFC status to the Ukraine. The USTR-led Special 301 Committee met Feb. 20 whether to designate Ukraine as a PFC, the worst classification for IP protection under the Special 301 statute. The hearing focused on countries believed to deny adequate protection of IP or deny fair and equitable market access to U.S. citizens who rely on intellectual property protection under the so-called "Special 301" provisions of the Trade Act.
Feb. 19 Broadband Breakfast Club event on data caps, 8:30 a.m., Clyde’s, 707 7th St. NW -- http://xrl.us/bnrny3
The Consumer Product Safety Commission issued guidance on inaccessible component parts in children's toys or child care articles subject to Section 108 of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008, in a Federal Register notice scheduled for Feb. 14. The section says the prohibition on specified products containing phthalates does not apply to any component that is not accessible to a child through normal and reasonably foreseeable use and abuse of such product.