MUMBAI: India is on the ‘priority watch list in 2012’ of special 301 report on copyright protection and enforcement by the International Intellectual Property Alliance (IIPA). In its submission to the US Trade Representative (USTR) as part of the annual Special 301 process, the IIPA highlighted those countries that failed to provide adequate and effective protection for US intellectual property.
The IIPA has identified India, China, Russia and Canada as well as over 30 other countries as some of the worst offenders for failing to adopt clear rules prohibiting services that are knowingly and intentionally operated to provide access to infringing materials.
The report was filed with the USTR last week and warns the federal office that numerous nations allegedly deny adequate and effective protection of intellectual property rights or that deny fair and equitable market access to US persons who rely on intellectual property protection.
As a response for these allegations, the IIPA suggested that the trade office take actions that range from increasing prosecution sentences for search engine operators, create legal incentives for cooperating Internet Service Providers and, in some cases, force foreign ISPs to block users access to questionable site altogether.
Among their grievances, the IIPA sites several popular file-sharing sites and torrent directories hosted internationally. For assisting in aiding in the availability of copyrighted material that could be downloaded online across the globe, the agency is asking the federal government to consider the countries in question with hopes “to reduce global piracy levels” and “aim to define and seek implementation of concrete solutions to significant commercial hurdles faced by the content industries of the United States.”
The result of the inquiry could prompt federal authorities to continue cracking down on non-US sites that violate American law.
In all, the IIPA recommends 41 distinct countries and territories for placement on a series of global watch lists that should be monitored due to concerns of copyright infringement. Elsewhere in the report, websites including Filesonic, isoHunt, Demonoid and the Pirate Bay are noted in the submission.
Members of the IIPA include the Motion Picture Association of America and the Recording Industry Association of America. Both the MPAA and the RIAA websites were crippled last month by Anonymous in retaliation for supporting online censorship.
RIAA EVP-International Neil Turkewitz said, “This report identifies some of the key shortcomings in the global protection of intellectual property, and highlights key reforms that could—and hopefully will—be undertaken to expand the opportunities for the creative community in the United States, and our global counterparts. According to IFPI an astonishing 95% of all downloads are estimated to be infringing. That is not a sustainable environment for allowing creators to earn a living from their craft.”
IIPA welcomed the Indian Government’s announcement of an initiative to develop a national IPR policy and to engage with industry stakeholders in this process.
Priority Actions Requested in 2012 from India
Enforcement
• Create a national anti-piracy task force with goals to reduce piracy, inter alia, by working with state Nodal officers, providing them with significantly increased resources; provide more accountability and power to the recently constituted task force by FICCI under the aegis of the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD).
• Reinvigorate “IP cells” within the state police, provide them with significantly increased resources, and establish specialized IP prosecutors, to be more effective in addressing piracy, including Internet/mobile device piracy.
• Encourage judicial reform, including establishing IP courts or panels with expert judges and prosecutors, which will help in accelerating the adjudication process in criminal and civil cases, and imposing deterrent fines and imprisonment, and civil remedies, including statutory damages.
MUMBAI: India is on the ‘priority watch list in 2012’ of special 301 report on copyright protection and enforcement by the International Intellectual Property Alliance (IIPA). In its submission to the US Trade Representative (USTR) as part of the annual Special 301 process, the IIPA highlighted those countries that failed to provide adequate and effective protection for US intellectual property.
The IIPA has identified India, China, Russia and Canada as well as over 30 other countries as some of the worst offenders for failing to adopt clear rules prohibiting services that are knowingly and intentionally operated to provide access to infringing materials.
The report was filed with the USTR last week and warns the federal office that numerous nations allegedly deny adequate and effective protection of intellectual property rights or that deny fair and equitable market access to US persons who rely on intellectual property protection.
As a response for these allegations, the IIPA suggested that the trade office take actions that range from increasing prosecution sentences for search engine operators, create legal incentives for cooperating Internet Service Providers and, in some cases, force foreign ISPs to block users access to questionable site altogether.
Among their grievances, the IIPA sites several popular file-sharing sites and torrent directories hosted internationally. For assisting in aiding in the availability of copyrighted material that could be downloaded online across the globe, the agency is asking the federal government to consider the countries in question with hopes “to reduce global piracy levels” and “aim to define and seek implementation of concrete solutions to significant commercial hurdles faced by the content industries of the United States.”
The result of the inquiry could prompt federal authorities to continue cracking down on non-US sites that violate American law.
In all, the IIPA recommends 41 distinct countries and territories for placement on a series of global watch lists that should be monitored due to concerns of copyright infringement. Elsewhere in the report, websites including Filesonic, isoHunt, Demonoid and the Pirate Bay are noted in the submission.
Members of the IIPA include the Motion Picture Association of America and the Recording Industry Association of America. Both the MPAA and the RIAA websites were crippled last month by Anonymous in retaliation for supporting online censorship.
RIAA EVP-International Neil Turkewitz said, “This report identifies some of the key shortcomings in the global protection of intellectual property, and highlights key reforms that could—and
hopefully will—be undertaken to expand the opportunities for the creative community in the United States, and our global counterparts. According to IFPI an astonishing 95% of all downloads are estimated to be infringing. That is not a sustainable environment for allowing creators to earn a living from their craft.”
IIPA welcomed the Indian Government’s announcement of an initiative to develop a national IPR policy and to engage with industry stakeholders in this process.
Priority Actions Requested in 2012 from India
Enforcement
• Create a national anti-piracy task force with goals to reduce piracy, inter alia, by working with state Nodal officers, providing them with significantly increased resources; provide more accountability and power to the recently constituted task force by FICCI under the aegis of the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD).
• Reinvigorate “IP cells” within the state police, provide them with significantly increased resources, and establish specialized IP prosecutors, to be more effective in addressing piracy, including Internet/mobile device piracy.
• Encourage judicial reform, including establishing IP courts or panels with expert judges and prosecutors, which will help in accelerating the adjudication process in criminal and civil cases, and imposing deterrent fines and imprisonment, and civil remedies, including statutory damages.
