Meanwhile, IPO Director-General Tsai Lien-sheng (蔡練生) and Minister of Economic Affairs Lin Yi-fu (林義夫) were expected to lodge a complaint yesterday with the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT).
"The lines of communication are open," acting AIT spokesperson, Robert Howes told the Taipei Times yesterday.
Some analysts have criticized the Special 301 report as lacking teeth, since Taiwan has been listed on the priority watch list for three years without sanctions being imposed. While Howes admitted the priority watch list does not include sanctions, it was an important vehicle for warning Taiwan about its responsibilities.
"As a good-faith trading partner we use the list as a way to signal our concern," he said. But the US may be unwilling to punish Taiwan, its strongest ally in Southeast Asia, as this could give China political leverage over the nation, the European Chamber's Eastwood said.
Across the Taiwan Strait, China was listed under the second worst category, Section 306 of the report for not passing critical IPR legislation as required by the World Trade Organization (WTO) which it joined in December 2001.
"China remains one of the last countries in the world that fails to use, in practice, its criminal law to go after commercial copyright pirates and trademark counterfeiters," the report said.
Taiwan is listed with Argentina, the Bahamas, Brazil, India, Indonesia, Lebanon, the Philippines, Poland and Russia on the Priority Watch List. The EU also appears on the priority list with Taiwan due to a dispute with the US over the use of geographical names as trademarks, like Champagne and Parma ham. There are 36 countries listed on the less serious Watch List.
The Ukraine was the worst offender in the Special 301 report, being the only "priority foreign country" for refusing to enforce optical disk licensing legislation, and as a result the US imposed US$75 million worth of sanctions on Ukrainian imports in January.
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