Taiwan has been flagged as a hot spot for illegal video streaming in this year’s edition of a US government report on intellectual property theft.
The nation was found to be home to “notable levels of piracy through ISDs [illicit streaming devices] and illicit IPTV [Internet protocol television] apps,” the Special 301 Report on Intellectual Property Protection and Enforcement released by the Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR) on Wednesday said.
The unlawful retransmission of telecommunications signals and channels containing copyrighted content through dedicated Web portals and third-party applications remained a problem in Taiwan, the report said.
Regarding signal theft, the report said that “in most cases, infringers circumvent encryption systems or otherwise unlawfully access cable or satellite signals to access copyrighted content.”
However, the report also said that the US and Taiwan held a Trade and Investment Framework Agreement meeting in May last year to discuss updates to copyright legislation and digital piracy.
“Several trading partners have recently strengthened or have been working toward strengthening their trade secret regimes, including the European Union, Chile and Taiwan,” it said.
The special report is an annual review of the global state of intellectual property rights protection and enforcement.
The USTR conducts the review every year under Section 182 of the Trade Act of 1974 to identify trade barriers faced by US companies and products in intellectual property rights, such as copyright, patents and trademarks, in other countries.
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