USTR issues Special 301 and Notorious Markets reports

By Emmanuel Legrand

The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) has released the yearly 2020 Special 301 Report, which identifies major impediments and improvements to the copyright regimes around the world, and the Notorious Markets Report, which lists infringing websites and other service that undermine the legitimate market for music and other creative works.

   “Over the last year, USTR has secured strong and enforceable obligations on intellectual property in our historic agreements with China, Canada, and Mexico," said US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer. "The two reports illustrate the Administration’s commitment to protecting intellectual property rights and combatting counterfeiting and piracy in online and physical markets.”

  USTR lists 10 countries on the Priority Watch List, including Algeria, Argentina, Chile, China, India, Indonesia, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Ukraine and Venezuela; USTR also lists 23 countries on the Watch List, including Brazil, Canada, Mexico, Thailand, United Arab Emirates, and Vietnam.

Spotlight on threats

  Special 301 Report highlights the situation in South Africa, where two pending bills would lead to "limitations on the freedom of contract raise concerns because they reduce the ability of creators to earn a living from their works, performances and phonograms."

  The Notorious Markets Report lists science research portal Sci-hub as a concern, as well as ThePirateBay, which remains the single most popular BitTorrent index site in the world.  

  “These much-anticipated reports shine a critical spotlight on the significant contributions of American creators to the US economy and society, and the threats they face around the world," said Recording Industry Association of America Chairman & CEO Mitch Glazier. "We could not agree more with the objective of these reports as part of the Administrations trade policy ‘to encourage other countries to open their markets to US exports of goods and services and to provide adequate and effective protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights'."

Getting rid of infringers

  The International Intellectual Property Alliance Counsel Eric J. Schwartz commented, “The Notorious Markets report is a vital tool to grow the legitimate online and physical marketplaces for copyrighted materials for the ultimate benefit of consumers worldwide. We commend USTR and all who worked in the inter-agency process for their outstanding work in identifying notorious markets for copyright piracy." 

  Added Schwartz: "Identification of specific online and physical illegal markets helps rights holders to rid marketplaces of blatant infringers and expand access to legal content, including literary works, music, movies and TV programming, video games, software, and other products and services, all of which are available now for consumers, in more formats than at any time in history."