US adds Belarus, Bulgaria to intellectual property watch list

The US Trade Representative’s office on Wednesday (26 April) added Belarus to an intellectual property rights watch list over a new law allowing the unauthorized use of copyrighted works from countries sanctioning Belarus for its support of Russia’s war in Ukraine.

USTR’s 2023 Special 301 Report on US trading partners intellectual property (IP) rights protections also continued last year’s suspension of its review of Ukraine’s IP practices, due to Russia’s February 2022 invasion of its southern neighbor.

Earlier today, we released our 2023 Special 301 Report, which details the adequacy and effectiveness of U.S. trading partners’ protection and enforcement of intellectual property (IP) rights. https://t.co/zhF5aQaohF

— United States Trade Representative (@USTradeRep) April 26, 2023

But the USTR’s report added NATO ally Bulgaria to its watch list because Sofia did not sufficiently address deficiencies in its investigation of online piracy cases, such as by allowing criminal investigations, expert examinations, and prosecutions to proceed with just a subset of seized infringing works.

“Long-standing IP enforcement concerns in Bulgaria continue to include inadequate prosecution efforts, lengthy and inefficient procedures, and the lack of deterrent criminal penalties, particularly in the area of online piracy. Stakeholders have raised concerns as to notorious online piracy sites reportedly hosted in or run from Bulgaria”, the report says.

The report now lists 29 countries on its watch list or priority watch list for deficiencies and violations of IP rights. Seven countries are currently on this year’s priority watch list: China, Chile, Argentina, India, Indonesia, Russia and Venezuela.

In the case of Belarus, USTR said that the country’s law allows royalties from unlicensed IP usage to be shifted to the national budget, allowing the regime of Russian ally Alexander Lukashenko to benefit directly from such unauthorized use.

USTR said that China continued to implement amendments to its Patent Law, Copyright Law and Criminal Law as agreed in a 2020 ‘Phase 1’ trade deal with former president Donald Trump, but added “the pace of reforms aimed at IP issues slowed.”

“While right holders have welcomed some positive developments, they raise concerns about the adequacy and effective implementation of these measures,” along with concerns about technology transfer, trade secrets and counterfeiting.

USTR also said the report also raises concerns with the European Union’s “aggressive promotion” of its exclusionary geographic indications policies on cheeses, wines and other agricultural products, which it said impair US trademarks that pre-date such EU protections.

The trade agency also raised concern about EU plans to expand geographic indications to other goods, including apparel, ceramics, glass and handicrafts, with member states now controlling much of the applications review process under policies that took effect in January.

(With additional reporting by Georgi Gotev)