The Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR) recognized Taiwan’s efforts to enhance trade secret protections, while citing online piracy as an ongoing concern, in an annual report released on Wednesday.
This year’s “Special 301” report, which monitors intellectual property (IP) protection and enforcement among US trading partners, was the second to be published under US President Joe Biden’s administration by US Trade Representative Katherine Tai (戴琪).
In the report, the USTR identified Taiwan, along with the EU and Chile, as partners that have recently strengthened or are working to strengthen their trade secret regimes.
Photo: Ritchie Bo. Tongo, EPA-EFE
While the report did not cite any specific examples, the legislature has amended a range of intellectual property laws as part of its bid to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact.
The US and Taiwan also met under the Trade and Investment Framework Agreement framework in June last year to discuss “developments related to the enforcement of trade secrets protections, copyright legislation and digital piracy,” the report said.
However, the report identified Taiwan as one of 16 markets with “notable” levels of streaming content piracy through illicit streaming devices and illicit Internet protocol television service apps.
In addition to Taiwan, the other markets included China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Singapore, Canada and Brazil.
China was also named as a manufacturing hub for piracy devices.
The USTR maintained China’s place on a “priority watch list” — along with Argentina, Chile, India, Indonesia, Russia and Venezuela — of countries with major deficiencies in their IP protections.
Although China passed a number of legal reforms last year to strengthen such protections, it has yet to address issues such as weak enforcement channels, and a lack of transparency and judicial independence, the report said.
The USTR also urged China to provide “a level playing field” in the area of IP protections, to refrain from requiring or pressuring technology transfers to Chinese companies, and to open to foreign investment and “embrace open and market-oriented policies.”
Washington will continue to monitor Beijing’s progress in implementing its commitments under the “phase one” trade agreement that the two countries signed in January 2020, the report said.
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