Ukraine, and Venezuela. In addition, the report notes that the United States will consider all options, including, but not limited to, initiation of dispute settlement consultations in cases where countries do not appear to have implemented fully their obligations under the WTO Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS Agreement).
In this year's review, USTR devotes special attention to the need for significantly improved enforcement against counterfeiting and piracy. In addition, USTR continues to focus on other critically important issues, including Internet piracy, counterfeit pharmaceuticals, transshipment of pirated and counterfeit goods, requiring authorized use of legal software by government ministries, proper implementation of the TRIPS Agreement by developed and developing country WTO members, and full implementation of TRIPS Agreement standards by new WTO members at the time of their accession.
USTR Focus on Intellectual Property and Innovation
In June 2006, USTR created a new Office of Intellectual Property and Innovation. Intellectual property issues were previously covered at USTR in the Office of Services, Investment and Intellectual Property. USTR also appointed a Chief Negotiator for Intellectual Property Enforcement. The creation of this new office and additional staff dedicated to intellectual property at USTR enhances our focus on protecting and enforcing IPR.
Positive Developments
Several countries made significant positive progress on IPR protection and enforcement in 2006. For example, Vietnam joined the WTO in January 2007. As part of its accession efforts, Vietnam enacted a comprehensive intellectual property law and implementing regulations to create a modern legal framework for IPR protection and enforcement. Taiwan also made significant strides in its IPR enforcement efforts and passed legislation to create a specialized IPR court. China recently joined the two key World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) treaties for copyright protection, and Russia has made strong commitments to improve intellectual property protection and enforcement as part of the path towards WTO accession.
In addition, USTR is pleased to announce that the following countries are having their status improved or are being removed entirely from the Watch List because of progress on IPR issues this past year:
- Bahamas has been removed from the Watch List due to improvements in IPR enforcement efforts. The United States continues to urge the Government of the Bahamas to implement the amendments to its copyright law.
- Belize has been moved from the Priority Watch List to the Watch List due to improvements in IPR enforcement efforts in response to heightened engagement with the United States.
- Brazil has been moved from the Priority Watch List to the Watch List due to improvements in IPR enforcement efforts and the United States will conduct an Out-of-Cycle Review.
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