ANNEX 2. UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT-SPONSORED
TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE AND CAPACITY BUILDING
In addition to identifying concerns, this Report also highlights opportunities for the U.S. Government to work closely with trading partners to address those concerns. The U.S. Government collaborates with various trading partners on IPR-related training and capacity building around the world. Domestically and abroad, bilaterally, and in regional groupings, the U.S. Government remains engaged in building stronger, more streamlined, and more effective systems for the protection and enforcement of IPR.
Although many trading partners have enacted IPR legislation, a lack of criminal prosecutions and deterrent sentencing has reduced the effectiveness of IPR enforcement in many regions. These problems result from several factors, including a lack of knowledge of IPR law on the part of judges and enforcement officials, and insufficient enforcement resources. The United States welcomes steps by a number of trading partners to educate their judiciary and enforcement officials on IPR matters. The United States will continue to work collaboratively with trading partners to address these issues.
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), through the Global Intellectual Property Academy (GIPA) and the Office of Policy and International Affairs offers programs in the United States and around the world to provide education, training, and capacity building on IPR protection, commercialization, and enforcement. These programs are offered to patent, trademark, and copyright officials, judges and prosecutors, police and customs officials, foreign policy makers, and U.S. rights holders.
Other U.S. Government agencies bring foreign government and private sector representatives to the United States on study tours to meet with IPR professionals and to visit the institutions and businesses responsible for developing, protecting, and promoting IPR in the United States. One such program is the Department of State's International Visitors Leadership Program, which brings groups from around the world to cities across the United States to learn more about IPR and related trade and business issues.
Overseas, the U.S. Government is also active in partnering to provide training, technical assistance, capacity building, exchange of best practices, and other collaborative activities to improve IPR protection and enforcement. The following are examples of these programs.
- In 2013, GIPA provided training to 7,078 foreign IPR officials from 135 countries, through 114 separate programs. Attendees included IPR policy makers, judges, prosecutors, customs officers, and examiners, and training topics covered the entire spectrum of IPR. Post-training surveys demonstrated that 100 percent of all attendees reported that they had taken some steps to implement positive policy change in their respective organizations.
- GIPA also has produced seven free distance-learning modules, available on its website in multiple languages (English, Spanish, French, Arabic, and Russian). There have been
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