reduce end-user software piracy and agreed to strengthen enforcement against company name misuse. In Taiwan, prosecutions for business software piracy have increased, and Taiwan passed legislation making illegal and subjecting to civil and criminal liability services that intentionally facilitate peer-to peer file sharing. Seizures of counterfeit pharmaceuticals have increased in Indonesia and Nigeria. India has approved initiating action for accession to the Madrid Protocol. China and Australia joined the two key World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) treaties for copyright protection. Malaysia launched a new intellectual property (JP) Court, consisting of 15 sessions courts and 6 high courts. Vietnam has taken actions to address the problem of signal piracy. The country sections of this Report describe numerous other positive developments.
In 2007, the United States worked to strengthen IPR laws and enforcement around the globe. The three pending free trade agreements (FTAs) all contain world-class IPR provisions, and FTA partner countries such as the Dominican Republic and Oman overhauled their IPR laws as part of the FTA implementation process.
In addition, USTR is pleased to announce that the following countries are having their status improved in the Special 301 Report or are being removed entirely because of progress on IPR issues this past year:
- Belize is being removed from the Watch List due to improvements in IPR enforcement efforts following heightened engagement with the United States.
- Egypt is being moved from the Priority Watch List to the Watch List due to improvements in pharmaceuticallPR protection. The United States urges Egypt to make further improvements, however, in its IPR enforcement efforts and to further clarify its practices with respect to data protection.
- Lebanon is being moved from the Priority Watch List to the Watch List due to improvements in IPR enforcement efforts. Despite this progress, the United States urges Lebanon to pass long-awaited IPR amendments.
- Lithuania is being removed from the Watch List due to improvements in IPR enforcement and passage of IPR legislation following heightened engagement with the United States.
- Turkey is being moved from the Priority Watch List to the Watch List due to improvements in IPR protection. The United States encourages Turkey to make further improvements to its IPR protection and enforcement regimes.
- Ukraine is being moved from the Priority Watch List to the Watch List due to improvements in IPR protection following close engagement with the United States during WTO accession negotiations. The United States urges Ukraine to continue, however, to make improvements in IPR enforcement and to effectively implement its recently passed IPR laws.
The United States commends this positive progress by our trading partners. The United States will continue to work with these and other countries to achieve further improvements in IPR protection and enforcement during the coming year.
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