Canada Remains on US Intellectual Property Rights Watch List

The United States Trade Representative (USTR) has conducted its 2006 "Special 301" annual review on Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) protection in 87 countries, as it is required to do under the provisions of the Trade Act of 1974 (Act). The mandate of the USTR under the Act is to review and monitor those countries believed to provide deficient IPR protection or inadequate market access, with the possible consequence of trade sanctions. Together with 47 other countries or regions, Canada was designated in one of the categories of Priority Watch List (the worst offenders), Watch List, or Section 306 Monitoring. Canada has been on one of the lists for all but two of the years the review has been done, starting in 1989. Regarding Canada's continuing inclusion on the Watch List, the USTR cited several areas of concern, asserting Canada's lack of ratification of the WIPO Internet Treaties and amendments to the Copyright Act to address digital works, as well as inadequate protection against unfair use of test data submitted by pharmaceutical companies in the product approval process. In addition, Canada was also criticized for allegedly weak border measures to counter the transhipment and transit of infringing products through Canada. As was the case last year, much of the attention in the Report is paid to China, a country which occupies a prominent spot at the top of the Priority Watch list of 13 countries. China was found to have made little progress and consequently the US will step up consideration of its WTO dispute settlement options. Some observers, including Prof Michael Geist, have noted a growing tendency by the US to successfully include in its bilateral trade agreements IPR demands that extend far beyond countries' obligations under multilateral treaties, prompting Prof Geist to call for the creation of a counter list of such countries, one which he calls the "IP Bullied List". For the full text of the USTR report, including an executive summary, visit: http://makeashorterlink.com/?T5F76151D For critical commentary on last year's report see: http://makeashorterlink.com/?R2183151D; and http://www.ip-watch.org/weblog/index.php?p=53&res=1152&print=0; and http://makeashorterlink.com/?W2283251D Summary by: Tom Feather