Write Comment     |     E-Mail To a Friend     |     Facebook     |     Twitter     |     Print

The US government has put India, China and Pakistan along with 10 other countries on the "intellectual property watch list" for failing to prevent the theft of copyrighted property.

Other nations on the watch list are Canada, Argentina, Algeria, Chile, Indonesia, Israel, Russia, Thailand, Ukraine and Venezuela.

These countries will be the subject of particularly intense bilateral engagement during the coming year, US Trade Representative Ron Kirk said in a statement, releasing the annual "Special 301" Report on the adequacy and effectiveness of US trading partners’ protection and enforcement of IPR.

The report said India made limited progress on IPR protection and enforcement in 2011, and its legal framework and enforcement system remain weak.

"The US continues to encourage India to promote a stable and predictable patent system that can nurture domestic innovation, including by resolving concerns with respect to the prohibition on patents for certain chemical forms absent a showing of increased efficacy," it said.

The report added, however, the US recognises India’s recent efforts to address its patent application backlog, and urges India to take additional steps in this regard.

Kirk said, "This year’s Special 301 Report is more significant than ever in light of recent US Government data showing that IP intensive industries support as many as 40 million American jobs and up to 60 per cent of US exports. When trading partners don’t protect IPR, they threaten those critical jobs and exports."

Meanwhile, on India, the report said the challenge of piracy over the Internet continues to grow, but the Copyright (Amendment) Bill 2010, which proposed partial implementation of the WIPO Internet Treaties and other reforms appears to have stalled.

The US also urged India to continue to work to streamline its patent opposition proceedings, it said.

The US would closely monitor developments concerning compulsory licensing of patents in India following the broad interpretation of Indian law in a recent decision by the Controller General of Patents, also bearing in mind the Doha Declaration on TRIPS and Public Health found in the Intellectual Property and Health Policy section of this Report, it added.

The US urges India to provide an effective system for protecting against unfair commercial use, as well as unauthorised disclosure, of test or other data generated to obtain marketing approval for pharmaceutical and agricultural chemical products, the report said.