U.S. puts Czech Republic on IPR watch list

U.S. puts Czech Republic on IPR watch list The United States said it will place the Czech Republic on a special watch list for countries with insufficient intellectual property rights protection and enforcement.
   “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 U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab in a statement.
   The Czech Republic was not included on the watch list in the 2007 Special 301 Report, released in April 2007. However, the USTR announced that it would conduct an “out-of-cycle” review to monitor progress in addressing concerns about the lack of adequate protection and enforcement of intellectual property in the Czech Republic, especially in regard to sales of pirated and counterfeit goods.
   The USTR chief praised the Czech Republic for beginning to seriously address the problem of pirated and counterfeit goods.
   “We are encouraged that the Czech Republic has started developing legal and enforcement measures to address longstanding 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,” Schwab said.