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TechnologyDaily Mobile
Report Touts Intellectual Property Work
by William New
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) on Monday issued its annual "Special 301" report on nations not meeting their obligations to adequately protect U.S. intellectual property. But this year, Trade Representative Robert Zoellick touted the exercise as evidence of his office's commitment to using all tools available to it.
The Bush administration has faced criticism lately for not doing enough to stop piracy, and Zoellick addressed those concerns.
"This report also reflects our commitment to promoting increased intellectual property protection through a variety of other mechanisms," he said in a statement. He specifically cited implementation the World Trade Organization Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property, and intellectual property negotiations within free-trade agreements.
The Special 301 report found problems with 52 of the 85 countries reviewed, mostly for piracy of software and optical media, such as compact discs and digital videodiscs, and the "global scourge" in counterfeiting and digital piracy. The report rates problem countries by placing them on watch lists of increasing severity. This year, the report also includes a list of improvements in countries, which USTR said exhibits the effectiveness of its approach.
Failure to fix problems can lead to sanctions, as us the case with the Ukraine, the most egregious producer of pirated optical discs. It faces $75 million in sanctions on legal imports to the United States for the third year in a row. But most cases lead to more consultation between governments and greater incentive for industry to take the lead in targeting problem spots. Many countries appear on the list year after year despite continuous engagement by the U.S. government.
China, by far the biggest violator and the land of greatest opportunity for U.S. companies, has slipped in its enforcement. About 95 percent of goods are pirated there, according to the report. Other major trading partners, such as Brazil, India, Russia and Taiwan, also continued to have significant problems. Of the new nations in the European Union, Poland, the largest, was cited for serious problems.
Jack Valenti, president of the Motion Picture Association of America, defended Zoellick's team. Valenti hailed the report in a statement, calling the Special 301 process "an essential part of our strategy to protect our intellectual property abroad."
"It is a key tool for the U.S. government to communicate and influence foreign government response to international piracy," Valenti added. "We are grateful to Ambassador Zoellick and the USTR for utilizing all their resources to protect America's creative products."
David Peyton, director for technology issues at the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), urged the Bush administration to do more. "While we applaud the Bush administration's vigorous efforts, the reality is that the problems of piracy and counterfeiting are growing even faster," he said in a release.
The report confirms that product counterfeiting "has grown beyond high-end luxury goods to plague almost every major industry sector," Peyton said. "The damage goes far beyond lost profits to lost jobs and palpable dangers to consumers. I wish everyone would read this report and grasp the fact that we're not just talking about knockoff watches here. This is about sugar pills labeled as cancer drugs and brake pads that fail and cause accidents."
Peyton noted China's recent commitment to stop counterfeit products at its docks. The International Chamber of Commerce estimates that global counterfeiting accounts for 5 percent to 7 percent of world trade, more than $300 billion a year. Peyton also said NAM is working with Congress to update U.S. law to ensure that counterfeit articles and the machines that make them are destroyed, as well as to increase penalties.
Global Patent Treaty Under Scrutiny
Nations of the Geneva-based World Intellectual Property Organization are meeting this week and next to discuss the body's Patent Cooperation Treaty. This week, the working group on reform of the treaty is looking at modifying the procedures for locking in dates to get protections in multiple countries through a filing in one country, according to a WIPO official.
Next week, WIPO's broader standing committee on the law of patents will discuss the organization's goal of getting agreement on substantive patent law. The goal is to have a full-fledged negotiation on harmonization of patent laws in the near future.
In next week's meeting, different technical aspects of the law will be discussed, such as novelty of inventions, obviousness in the patent-examination process, first-to-file and first-to-invent standards, and the geographical harmonization of standards, the official said.
The Washington-based Consumer Project on Technology filed several proposals on ways to consider consumers while harmonizing patent laws.
Europe Pushes Competition In Telecom Equipment
The European Commission has determined that a 1999 directive harmonizing European Union rules on terminal equipment for radio and telecommunications has met its goals. The equipment sector includes a range of products from mobile telephones to car remote controls.
But the commission said in a release that it is recommending a technical review of legislation in order to consolidate the strong position European manufacturers have in network infrastructure and the mobile phone market. The review is necessary to determine whether changes to current rules are needed to account for technological advances and growing international competition.
The directive sought to remove differences in national regulations that stalled the creation of a single European market for such products. It also aimed to ensure a high level of safety and health protection.
In other EU news, Jan Figel, the enterprise and information society commissioner-designate, has launched a Web site to track his activities as a member of the European Commission, as well as to provide information on his background, a diary of institutional commitments, speeches and information about his areas of responsibility. The site also provides information about his Cabinet. Figel was the negotiator for Slovakia's accession to the European Union.
Larger EU Seen As Wireless Opportunity
GSM Europe, the industry group backing Europe's predominant wireless communications standard, said in a statement that the 10 new EU nations make the union the world's largest single mobile market and provide "significant" opportunities for industry growth. With its expansion to 25 countries, the union has 450 million consumers, the group said.
The new nations -- Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia -- represent some of the fastest-growing economies in the world, the group said. These countries' accession will "challenge mobile operators to develop innovative strategies to protect their market share, and will also provide opportunities for partnerships and alliances," GSM Europe said.
Finally, an Internet research and development network in the Mediterranean has been linked to the pan-European network for the first time. EUMedconnect is a project funded by the European Commission until June 2006 to establish an Internet-protocol network serving the research and education communities of the Mediterranean region.
The network was connected to larger GEANT network, giving the region's national research centers and institutions dedicated connectivity to one another, as well as to 3,500 research and education establishments in Europe and elsewhere in the world.
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