The Office of the United States Trade Representatives (USTR) released in May 2013 its annual “Special 301” Report on the effectiveness and enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) protection.
In this review, Algeria, remains the only Arab country on the Priority Watch List. Egypt, Kuwait and Lebanon are still on the Watch List despite the ongoing efforts exerted by these countries in order to address the issues related to the intellectual property rights protection.
According to the Special 301 USTR Report, the United States remains concerned about continuing deficiencies in the countries’ IPR enforcement regime, problems with the judicial system, as well as retail piracy in copyrighted works. It urges these countries to protect their public health more, protect the patent system and enhance their IPR system.
Priority Foreign Country: Ukraine.
Priority Watch List: Algeria, Argentina, Chile, China, India, Indonesia, Pakistan, Russia, Thailand, Venezuela.
Countries on the Priority Watch List experience an inadequate level of intellectual property rights protection or enforcement, or a weak market access for persons relying on intellectual property protection.
Watch List: Barbados, Belarus, Bolivia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, Finland, Greece, Guatemala, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Kuwait, Lebanon, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Romania, Tajikistan, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Vietnam.
Countries on the Watch List do not pledge complete commitment to address underlying intellectual property rights problems.
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