USTR releases "Special 301" report that disappoints PhRMA

The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) has released its annual “Special 301” Report on the adequacy and effectiveness of US trading partners’ protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights (IPR) and market access for persons that rely on IPR protection. Significant actions in this year’s report include the following:

• The USTR designates Ukraine a Priority Foreign Country (PFC) under the Special 301 statute due to severe deterioration of enforcement in the areas of government use of pirated software and piracy over the Internet, as well as denial of fair and equitable market access through the authorization and operation of copyright collecting societies;

• USTR reports grave concerns about misappropriation of trade secrets in China, and incremental progress on a few of China’s many other significant IPR and market access challenges;