Taiwanese officials expressed regret yesterday over a US decision to keep the country on a watch list for intellectual property rights (IPR) protection.
The Intellectual Property Office under the Ministry of Economic Affairs said that Taiwan has long been working to establish a friendly environment for IPR protection and urged the US government to consider the efforts made in recent years.
“Regarding Taiwan’s being retained on the ordinary 301 Watch List, the Intellectual Property Office (IPO) expresses deep regret,” the IPO said in a statement published on the ministry’s Web site yesterday.
The IPO said Taiwan’s efforts have received recognition from the American Chamber of Commerce in Taipei, which recommended in an editorial in last month’s Topics magazine that the US remove Taiwan from the “Special 301” watch list. The editorial cited the “significant positive developments in intellectual property protection in 2007” and “the good will shown by the key agencies involved” within the government, the statement said.
In the annual Special 301 Report released on Friday, the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) said Taiwan and 35 countries were placed on the less serious watch list.
The USTR office will conduct out-of-cycle reviews on Taiwan and Israel and decide in the summer if they can be removed from the list.
On Taiwan’s achievements in IPR protection over the past year, the report said that in June last year the Legislative Yuan passed a law aimed at ending illegal file-sharing over peer-to-peer platforms, which enabled officials to shut down some of the worst violators.
Other progress made by Taiwan includes continued efforts to establish an IP section at the Special Prosecutors’ Office, and the creation and issuance in October last year of the Action Plan for Protecting IP Rights on School Campuses, the report said.
However, the USTR urges Taiwan to make the specialized IPR Court operational as soon as possible, continue to implement the 2007 Campus Action Plan, continue its efforts to combat counterfeiting and Internet piracy, and work closely with the Legislative Yuan to pass pending IPR legislation regarding liability of Internet service providers for copyright infringements.
Also, Taiwan is being asked to continue to take effective action against piracy on the Internet, especially on TANet — the Internet service provider administered by the Ministry of Education — and against the unauthorized use of copyrighted material on or near universities.
The annual Special 301 Report, which reviews the adequacy and effectiveness of IPR protection by US trade partners, placed nine countries on the Priority Watch List and 36 countries on the lower level watch list for this year.
After remaining on the Priority Watch List for four years, Taiwan was lowered to the Watch List at the end of 2004.
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