IIPA Welcomes USTR Special 301 Report on 'Notorious' IP Markets

The International Intellectual Property Alliance applauded the U.S. Trade Representative’s Special out-of-cycle report on “notorious” IP markets. IIPA said in a Friday news release that it welcomed USTR’s inclusion of possible bad IP actors in the domain registrar industry. The report, which USTR released Thursday (see 1503050040), reviews IP protections and other market practices in foreign countries and highlights those nations with the most problematic IP standards, and IIPA filed comments in the review earlier (see 1502060043). USTR’s “listing process works, commanding the attention of marketplace operators and responsible governments,” IIPA Counsel Steven Metalitz said in the release. “This year’s report again mentions markets removed from the list, either because they were shut down by law enforcement, or because the market operators have taken appropriate steps to ensure their market is not used for piracy.”