The Food and Drug Administration has revised its recently issued guidance for industry on the "Referral Program from the FDA to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Seafood Inspection Program (NOAA SIP) for the Certification of Fish and Fishery Products for Export to the European Union and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA)."

Online game piracy is a significant problem in Western Europe and “underscores the need for better mechanisms to protect and enforce intellectual property rights in the networked digital environment,” the Entertainment Software Association said Tuesday. ESA’s research was included in a “Special 301 Report” filed by the International Intellectual Property Alliance (IIPA) with the office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR). ESA CEO Michael Gallagher called piracy “the single greatest threat to the innovation, artistic commitment and technological advancements enjoyed by millions of consumers worldwide.” He called piracy “a job killer that the world economy cannot afford” and criticized countries that “skirt obligations to combat piracy.” The report revealed large demand for unauthorized copies of console and handheld games, which ESA said indicated “widespread availability of circumvention devices and game copiers in many leading markets.” IIPA, which ESA is a member of, recommended that 40 of the countries be named to an appropriate USTR Watch List. Also included in the report was data that ESA said “revealed alarmingly high volumes of illegal game downloads” across P2P networks BitTorrent and eDonkey. Other findings cited in the report: (1) Users across 223 countries, territories and colonies downloaded illegal copies of games, and downloads of the two most popular titles were estimated to have been made across 219 of the regions. (2) Users downloaded 6.4 million illegal copies of the 13 titles that were studied in December. (3) Italy had the most illegal download activity at 17 percent, followed by Spain with 15.1 percent, France with 7.9 percent, Germany with 6.9 percent and Poland with 6.1 percent. (4) The heaviest downloading countries per capita were Israel, Spain, Italy, Portugal and Poland. (5) Telecom Italia was implicated in 11.6 percent of completed downloads, followed by Telefonica de Espana with 7.8 percent, France Telecom with 3.9 percent, Polish Telecom with 3.6 percent, Deutsche Telecom AG with 2.6 percent, Italy’s IUnet with 2.1 percent, France’s Neuf Cegetel with 1.6 percent, Spain’s Jazz Telecom with 1.57 percent, France’s Free SAS with 1.56 percent and Spain’s Uni2 with 1.53 percent. Meanwhile, the Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association said two raids in Scotland Friday led to the arrest of two pirates. A “large number of items including consoles and games were seized,” along with “mod chipping” equipment, it said. The games’ packaging bore ads it said encouraged consumers to buy additional counterfeit titles.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission has issued an interim final rule, effective February 10, 2009, which exempts certain accessible components of children's electronic devices from the lead content limits¹ for children's products required by the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 (CPSIA²), as it is not currently technologically feasible for such components to comply. Comments are due March 16, 2009.

On February 2, 2009, Senator Snowe¹ (R) introduced the Trade Complaint and Litigation Accountability Improvement Measures Act of 2009 (the Trade CLAIM Act, S. 363), a bill aimed at strengthening and improving the enforcement of U.S. trade rights.

DirecTV will expand ties with wireless carriers this year as it seeks to move distribution of the satellite service beyond TVs and PCs, CEO Chase Carey said in a quarterly earnings call Tuesday.

DirecTV will expand ties with wireless carriers this year as it seeks to move distribution of the satellite service beyond TVs and PCs, CEO Chase Carey said in a quarterly earnings call Tuesday.

The National Marine Fisheries Service is reopening the comment period on a petition¹ to initiate a rulemaking to ban imports of swordfish from any and all countries that have not satisfied Section 101(a)(2) of the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA).

The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service has published a notice announcing revisions to its enforcement phase-in plan for the Lacey Act Amendment declaration requirement for imported plants and plant products, provided information on its exemptions, etc.

The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service has reopened the comment period on its proposed rule which would revise and update certain procedures and requirements for the importation, interstate movement, and environmental release of certain genetically engineered (GE) organisms in order to bring the regulations under 7 CFR Part 340 into alignment with the Plant Protection Act.

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative has issued a notice requesting comments to assist it in identifying countries that deny adequate and effective protection of intellectual property rights or deny fair and equitable market access to U.S. persons who rely on intellectual property protection.