Page:Special 301 Report 2015.pdf/61

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worked on draft legislation. However, the legislation has not yet been adopted and investigations and prosecutions remain sporadic. As highlighted in the 2014 Notorious Markets List, Ukraine continues to host some of the largest pirate sites in the world. The United States appreciates that the Ministry of Internal Affairs' Cybercrime Division and Economic Crimes Division have both been willing to work closely with the U.S. Department of Justice on online piracy and that Ukrainian enforcement personnel have participated in training and engagement on this issue, including a workshop on Combating Digital Piracy by the Commercial Law Development Program of the United States Department of Commerce.

The Government of Ukraine has stated that it seeks to improve these and other IPR-related deficiencies to advance its own agenda for economic improvement, particularly in promoting foreign direct investment, ensuring that legitimate Ukrainian creators and innovators can build successful businesses, and fulfilling its obligations under the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement. The United States welcomes Ukraine's recent outreach and ongoing engagement on these important issues and looks forward to these efforts resulting in tangible and lasting improvement, both in legislative reform and in practice.

Western Hemisphere

ARGENTINA

Argentina remains on the 2015 Priority Watch List, as it continues to present a number of very long-standing and well-known deficiencies in IPR protection and enforcement, and has become an extremely challenging market for IPR-intensive industries.

A major challenge in Argentina is the lack of effective IPR enforcement by the national government. Argentine police do not take ex officio actions, prosecutions stall, cases wallow in excessive formalities and, even if a criminal investigation reaches final judgment, infringers do not receive deterrent sentences. In terms of physical piracy, the Notorious Market La Salada is one of biggest open-air markets in Latin America offering counterfeit and pirated goods, and it continues to grow. Open twice a week, La Salada attracts over one million people a day who browse and buy literally millions of illegal goods each year. Recent efforts by the City of Buenos Aires to combat increasing lawlessness in the market received little assistance from the national government. In fact, Argentina has thousands of smaller markets known as "Saladitas" that offer pirated and counterfeit goods, and vendors can be seen on the streets of Buenos Aires and other big cities selling illicit works with impunity.

While optical disc copyright piracy is widespread, Internet piracy is a growing concern. Internet piracy rates approach 100 percent in several content areas. For example, Argentine-run Notorious Market cuevana.tv—offering pirated movies and TV shows—is the 75th most popular website in the country, with an estimated 150,000 visitors each day. As a result, IPR