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US adds Belarus, Bulgaria to intellectual property watch list
May 4, 2023WASHINGTON D.C.: Due to a new law allowing the unauthorized use of copyrighted works from countries that sanctioned Minsk for its support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the US Trade Representative office has added Belarus to an intellectual property rights watch list.
The US Trade Representative’s 2023 Special 301 Report on US trading partners intellectual property (IP) rights protections also continued last year’s suspension of its review of Ukraine’s IP practices, but it added ally Bulgaria to its watch list, as Sofia has not sufficiently met requirements for investigating online piracy cases.
The report now lists 29 countries, with seven currently on this year’s priority watch list, which include China, Chile, Argentina, India, Indonesia, Russia and Venezuela.
Belorussian law permits royalties from unlicensed IP usage to be used in the national budget, allowing the regime of Alexander Lukashenko, an ally of Vladimir Putin, to benefit directly from such unauthorized use, the US Trade Representative said.
China is also continuing to amend its Patent Law, Copyright Law and Criminal Law, as agreed in a 2020 ‘Phase 1’ trade deal with former president Donald Trump, the office said.
“While right holders have welcomed some positive developments, they raise concerns about the adequacy and effective implementation of these measures, along with concerns about technology transfer, trade secrets and counterfeiting,” it added.
