Another area of concern for trademark holders is the protection of their trademarks against unauthorized uses under top level domain extensions. U.S. rights holders face significant trademark infringement and loss of valuable Internet traffic because of such uses. A related and growing concern is that certain country code top level domain names (ccTLD) lack transparent and predictable uniform domain name dispute resolution policies (UDRPs). Effective UDRPs should assist in the quick and efficient resolution of these disputes. The United States encourages its trading partners to provide procedures that allow for the protection of trademarks used in domain names, and to ensure that dispute resolution procedures are available to prevent the misuse of trademarks.
Geographical Indications
The United States is working intensively through bilateral and multilateral channels to advance U.S. market access interests and to ensure that the trade initiatives of other countries, including with respect to geographical indications (GIs), do not undercut U.S. industries' market access. GIs typically consist of place names (or words associated with a place) and they identify products or services as having a particular quality, reputation, or other characteristic attributable to their geographic origin.
The U.S. Government is actively involved in promoting and protecting access to foreign markets for U.S. exporters whose products are identified by common names or generic terms, like parmesan and mozzarella for cheese. The United States is pressing its objectives in a variety of contexts, including in the WTO, WIPO and Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) as well as in our bilateral agreements. The United States is also engaging bilaterally to address GI-related concerns, including with Canada, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, the European Union and its Member States, and the Philippines, among others. U.S. goals in this regard include:
- Ensuring that grants of GI protection do not violate prior rights (for example, in cases in which a U.S. company has a trademark that includes a place name);
- Ensuring that grants of GI protection do not deprive interested parties of the ability to use generic or common terms, such as parmesan or mozzarella;
- Ensuring that interested persons have notice of, and opportunity to oppose, or to seek cancellation of, any GI protection that is sought or granted; and
- Opposing efforts to amend the TRIPS Agreement to extend to other products the special protection that is provided to GIs for wines and spirits.
Intellectual Property and Health Policy
Numerous comments in the 2014 Special 301 review highlighted concerns arising at the intersection of IPR policy and health policy.
Intellectual property plays an important role in providing the incentives necessary for the
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