U.S. praises Honduras for recent IP protections

The White House praised the Honduran government for its recent efforts to strengthen protection and enforcement against intellectual property violations.    The White House praised the Honduran government for its recent efforts to strengthen protection and enforcement against intellectual property violations.
   The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said the “breakthrough” was reached after the U.S. government carried out an out-of-cycle review of intellectual property protection in Honduras to find out if that Central American country should be placed on USTR’s Special 301 intellectual property Watch List.
   “Honduras is to be commended for the new commitments it has made to advancing intellectual property protection and enforcement, and for the collaborative approach it has taken to resolving these issues with us,” said U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman in a statement. 
   To increase criminal enforcement of IP violations, Honduran government will increase its number of prosecutors specializing in this area by the end of this March. The government will also publish quarterly reports on prosecution case activity to promote “transparency and accountability as this plan is implemented,” USTR said. 
   For greater clarity of intellectual property involving so-called “geographic indications,” Honduran authorities have posted clarifying information on an official webpage. Among the terms clarified as being generic in that information are “parmesano” (the Spanish language term for “parmesan”), “provolone,” and “bologna.” “These commitments will assist U.S. food and agricultural producers, such as dairy farmers, to increase trade in cheese and meat products with Honduras,” USTR said.
   USTR also noted the Honduran government will review draft measures to improve its border enforcement through implementation of a customs trademark registry and plans to reactivate the Interagency Commission to Combat Piracy and Counterfeiting to improve interagency coordination and cooperation in the protection of intellectual property rights in the country.