Ukraine world’s worst copyright violator, India on 'watch' list: USTR report

Ukraine has been labelled as the world's top offender of intellectual property rights (IPR), according to the latest annual report published by the US Trade Representative (USTR).

The 'Special 301' report released by the acting USTR Demetrios Marantis, designated Ukraine as 'priority foreign country', the highest category for offenders on the USTR's watch list.

''I regret that the government of Ukraine has earned the first new priority foreign country designation in 11 years due to its severely deteriorating climate for IPR protection and market access, and call upon that government to reverse recent backsliding and swiftly resolve the problems identified today,'' Marantis said.

''I am encouraged that other countries, notably Canada, have made long-awaited progress on concerns identified in past reports; I hope that Canada will sustain and build upon that progress, and that other listed countries will make similar progress,'' he further stated.

USTR, America's chief trade negotiator and principal adviser to the president, reviewed 95 trading partners for this year's Special 301 report, and placed 41 countries on the priority foreign country, priority watch list, or watch list.

Ukraine's designation is the culmination of several years of growing concern over widespread IP theft, including growing entrenchment of IPR infringement that is facilitated by government actors.

According to the report, Ukraine has no transparent system for collecting music royalties, a significant percentage of the software used by its government agencies is unlicensed, and the country has no effective system to combat rampant online piracy.

Online piracy now has growing consequences for both Ukrainian market and international trade. For example, Ukraine-based website ExtraTorrent.com is the 76th most visited site in India, and among the top 200 sites in six other countries.

India in 'priority watch list'
India is placed in the 'priority watch list' along with nine other countries including Algeria, Argentina, Chile, China, Indonesia, Pakistan, Russia, Thailand and Venezuela.

In 2012, India made limited progress in improving its weak IPR legal framework and enforcement. India enacted copyright amendments and published for comment draft rules to implement the Madrid protocol and a draft national intellectual property strategy, which proposes to create an enhanced IPR management system, the report said.

In many areas, however, IPR protection and enforcement challenges are growing, and there are serious questions regarding the future condition of the innovation climate in India across multiple disciplines, the report noted.

The report raised concern about the recent decision by India's Supreme Court with respect to India's prohibition on patents limiting innovations in drugs with fewer side effects, decreased toxicity, or improved delivery systems.

Earlier in April, US Inc expressed disappointment over the Supreme Court decision to deny patent rights to Swiss drug maker Novartis for a new variant of its cancer drug Glivec. (See: SC ruling on Novartis patent disappoints US Inc; but NGOs cheer)

The US urged India to continue its recent efforts to address its patent application backlog and to streamline its patent opposition proceedings.

Thirty other nations have been placed on the 'watch list'. These include Belarus, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Colombia, Egypt, Finland, Greece, Israel, Italy, Kuwait, Mexico, Philippines, Romania and Turkey among others.