USTR releases annual “special 301 report” on protecting intellectual property rights
Adequacy and effectiveness of the U.S. trading partner countries’ protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights
Protecting intellectual property rights
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) today released its annual “special 301 report” on the adequacy and effectiveness of the U.S. trading partner countries’ protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights.
The “special 301 report” details the USTR’s findings of more than 100 trading partner countries after significant research and enhanced engagement with stakeholders.
Read the USTR release
The 2022 report [PDF 847 KB] highlights progress made by U.S. trading partners to resolve and address intellectual property rights issues of concern to the United States, revealing that:
- Kuwait is removed from the “watch list” for making continued and significant progress on concerns that stakeholders identified with intellectual property enforcement and transparency.
- Saudi Arabia is removed from the “priority watch list” due to steps taken to publish intellectual property enforcement procedures; increase enforcement against counterfeit and pirated goods and online pirated content; create specialized intellectual property enforcement courts with trained judges and expedited timelines; conduct strong intellectual property awareness, outreach, training, and support; set up a centralized committee to coordinate intellectual property enforcement actions across multiple authorities; and train intellectual property specialists in 76 different authorities to increase government compliance with intellectual property laws.
- Romania is removed from the “watch list” due to taking significant actions to improve intellectual property protection and enforcement.
- Lebanon is removed from the “watch list” as stakeholders have not raised significant concerns about intellectual property protection or enforcement during the “special 301 review.”
For more information, contact a professional with KPMG’s Trade & Customs services:
Doug Zuvich |
John L. McLoughlin |
Andy Siciliano |
Steve Brotherton |
Luis (Lou) Abad |
Irina Vaysfeld |
Amie Ahanchian |
Christopher Young |
Gisele Belotto |
George Zaharatos |
Andy Doornaert |
Jessica Libby Principal E: jlibby@kpmg.com |
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