As expected, Taiwan has once again been listed by the US on its Special 301 Priority Watch List of serious violators of intellectual property rights, the Ministry of Economic Affairs announced last night.
Representatives from the American Institute in Taiwan informed ministry officials yesterday there still remained serious problems with piracy of optical media products, according to a government statement. Despite revisions to IP-related laws and crackdowns against violators, the Office of the US Trade Representative would again list Taiwan among the world's worst locations for IP violations on the Special 301 list, according to the statement.
"We feel deeply sorry that the US has not recognized our efforts and accomplishments over the past year in protecting intellectual property rights," the statement said.
The announcement this year -- which will be the fifth year in a row that Taiwan has been listed by the US as a serious IP violator -- came as no surprise.
On a visit in April, US Undersecretary of Commerce Grant Aldonas said that despite some improvement, Taiwan had not yet done enough to avoid being placed on the list again this year.
Aldonas had said that the Copyright Law was not in compliance with the WTO Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property (TRIPS) and that enforcement of the Optical Media Law was weak.
However, in the statement Taiwan defended its performance, saying that it had made the necessary revisions to the Patent Law and Copyright Law to extend the period for patent protection and adopted effective implementation measures for the Optical Media Law.
The government also pointed out that last year it had closed the operations of 5,270 manufacturers churning out pirated goods, arrested 6,112 people for IP violations and netted a haul of pirated goods worth NT$8.2 billion.
Violators of the Special 301 -- a clause of the US Omnibus Trade Act of 1988 -- could face possible trade sanctions. Under the law, the US can impose sanctions if within six months the two sides have not come to an agreement on how to improve the situation.
The ministry said the move would not negatively impact trade relations with the US.
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