Office of the United States Trade Representative

 

USTR Announces Results of Out-of-Cycle Review for the Czech Republic
01/22/2008
 

 

Washington, D.C. - U.S. Trade Representative Susan C. Schwab today announced the results of USTR's Out-of-Cycle Review of intellectual property rights (IPR) protection and enforcement in the Czech Republic under the “Special 301” provisions of U.S. trade law.  As a result of the review, the Czech Republic will be placed on the Special 301 Watch List.

"We remain concerned at the continuing lack of effective enforcement measures against traders openly selling pirated and counterfeit goods in the notorious border markets," said Ambassador Schwab.  “Intellectual property rights are critical to the continued growth of our economy, and we will vigorously press our trading partners to follow and enforce the rules to protect American creativity, innovation and technology.   We are encouraged that the Czech Republic has started developing legal and enforcement measures to address long-standing concerns over piracy and counterfeiting, and look forward to continuing to work with the Czech Republic to achieve concrete results in IPR enforcement, both bilaterally and globally."

The Czech Republic was not included on the Watch List or the Priority Watch List in the 2007 Special 301 Report, released in April 2007, but USTR announced that it would conduct an Out-of-Cycle Review to monitor progress in addressing concerns regarding the lack of adequate protection and enforcement of intellectual property in the Czech Republic, especially with respect to sales of pirated and counterfeit goods in its notorious markets. 

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