Background Overview of the 2024 Special 301 Report

Recently, the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) released the 2024 Special 301 Report. The report reviews in detail the performance of US trading partners in intellectual property (IP) protection and enforcement, and provides an in-depth analysis of IP issues around the world.

Main Content of the 2024 Special 301 Report

1. Report Release and Purpose

The report assesses the progress of more than 100 trading partners in intellectual property protection and enforcement.

It highlights issues that need to be addressed with allies and partners to ensure trade benefits and reduce the threat of counterfeit goods to health and safety.

2. Significant progress

Dominican Republic: Removed from the watch list due to significant progress in IP enforcement and transparency.

Uzbekistan: Passed the amendment to the new Customs Law, which strengthened the supervision of the entry and exit of counterfeit goods, and was also removed from the watch list.

3. Continued attention

China: There are many serious problems in intellectual property protection and enforcement, including technology transfer, trade secrets, malicious trademarks, counterfeiting, online piracy and geographical indications.

India: Although some progress has been made in trademark infringement investigations and pre-grant opposition procedures, there are still many problems, such as high online piracy rates, backlogs of trademark oppositions and insufficient legal means to protect trade secrets.

4. Cross-cutting issues

The threat to public health from counterfeit medicines.

The ongoing problem of online and broadcast piracy.

Concerns about the EU’s exclusive Geographical Indications (GI) policy.

5. Priority Watch List and Watch List

Priority Watch List: includes Argentina, Chile, China, India, Indonesia, Russia and Venezuela, reflecting the serious problems in these countries in intellectual property protection or enforcement.

Watch List: includes 20 countries including Algeria, Barbados, Belarus, Bolivia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, etc., indicating that these countries need bilateral attention to resolve potential intellectual property issues.

6. Public Participation

USTR will solicit opinions from the public and stakeholders through Federal Register notices and public hearings to ensure transparency and broad participation in the report.

Summary of the 2024 Special 301 Report

The 2024 Special 301 Report is an annual review tool for the United States on the status of global intellectual property protection. The report once again emphasizes the importance of global intellectual property protection and enforcement, and points out the progress and shortcomings of various countries in this regard.

The 2024 Special 301 Report not only points out the problems, but also provides direction for international cooperation. It aims to promote countries to strengthen intellectual property protection and enforcement to ensure a market environment of innovation and fair competition.

To read the full report, please click here to read the original text.