Taiwan's Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday that it regrets that Taiwan has been kept on the watch list in the 2006 Special 301 Report. However, the ministry's officials vowed that Taiwan will continue to make efforts to step up protection of IPR.
The ministry's Intellectual Property Office said it has taken the USTR's decision in stride, noting that regardless of whether Taiwan is on the list or not, the most important thing is to continue to strengthen IPR enforcement actions against piracy and counterfeiting.
The ministry's Bureau of Foreign Trade also said it will continue to coordinate related government agencies to upgrade IPR protection and inform the US about its latest progress.
Officials at the bureau said that they hope the US will address the efforts made by Taiwan and remove it from the list soon.
In related news, the US government on Friday also turned up the heat on China for industrial-scale piracy of US goods.
The USTR Report cited 13 countries, including China, that are most guilty of infringing US IPR -- these include Russia, Argentina, Belize, Brazil, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Israel, Lebanon, Turkey, Ukraine and Venezuela.
The USTR report again this year placed a special emphasis on copyright thefts taking place in China. It said the US recognized efforts by Beijing to curb the problem but said IPR enforcement in China continues to lag "far behind" promises made by the communist government.
The report said that for the first time, the USTR office would scrutinize IPR protection and enforcement at the provincial level in China. China analysts say that while some in the central government in Beijing are committed to stemming the tide of IPR abuses, the commitment is far weaker among regional governments, which enjoy closer ties to local industries.
Under mounting pressure from the US, China has responded with an array of promises including a requirement for all domestic computers to be pre-installed with legitimate software.
State media said on Thursday that China would "severely" punish officials who fail to enforce IPR protection under a new action plan for this year and next year.
But the USTR report said copyright abuses persisted right under the noses of officialdom, including in Beijing's "notorious" Silk Street Market, a multi-story emporium of fake handbags, electronics and watches.
The report also commented on the counterfeiting of medication, which has become a pressing problem in both China and Russia -- an issue not just because of its "enormous" impact on US drug makers' earnings but for the potential hazard to human health.
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