WASHINGTON - Thailand is on the US list of world's worst offenders of intellectual property (IP) laws for the ninth consecutive year.
The United States Trade Representative early Friday issued its annual Special 301 Report on all its trading partners, and again found Thailand wanting in almost all areas of IP protection.
Thailand was placed on the "priority watch list" of the report after it issued legal compulsory licences for three medicines made and sold at huge profit by US pharmaceutical companies. It has remained on that list ever since.
The name of the report refers to Section 301 of the US Trade Act of 1974. It provides for sanctions against the worst offenders - such as Thailand - but in practice there never has been punishment for alleged offenders beyond name-and-shame.
The latest US report also kept China and India on its Priority Watch List of trading partners that fail to protect intellectual property rights (IPR), hurting the economy.
In all, the Commerce Department's US Trade Representative listed 13 trading partners on its "dirty dozen" Priority Watch List. As usual, they are listed only in alphabetical order: Algeria, Argentina, Chile, China, Ecuador, India, Indonesia, Kuwait, Pakistan, Russia, Thailand, Ukraine and Venezuela.
The full report can be viewed or downloaded from the US Trade Representative's website.
"Thailand’s failure to address concerns identified by the United States, other foreign governments, and stakeholders has resulted in missed opportunities to address IPR challenges in recent amendments to Thailand’s copyright law," the report alleged.
"Thailand remains on the Priority Watch List in 2015. The United States notes Thailand's stated desire to improve IPR protection and enforcement. At the same time, IPR enforcement does not seem to be a top priority for Thai law enforcement..."
The report was largely a rehash of well-known issues of US concern including whole buildings featuring pirated music, movies and software, use of pirated software by government offices and "unfair" development of pharmaceuticals.
Since its 2006 reaction to the compulsory licensing of medicine, the US has never accused Thailand of breaking laws or treaties, but insists on the "unfair" label.
The 72-page section of the 301 report contained about one page on Thailand. No specific examples of piracy were given, although other reports such as the "notorious markets" paper issued in March have made specific allegations.
Ecuador made the Priority Watch List because of its repeal last year of its criminal IPR provisions. "The current lack of criminal procedures and penalties invites transnational organized crime groups that engage in copyright piracy and trademark counterfeiting to view Ecuador as a safe haven," the USTR report said.
Ukraine's government had not resolved problems identified two years ago by the US that include widespread use of illegal software by Ukrainian government agencies and the failure to adopt effective means to combat online copyright infringement, it said.
While welcoming promising efforts by the Ukrainian authorities, the USTR said it was looking forward to seeing "tangible and lasting improvement, both in legislative reform and in practice."
Kuwait was moved to the Priority Watch List in November after failing "to introduce legislation resulting in a copyright law consistent with international standards, and resume effective enforcement against copyright and trademark infringement."
The other countries on the Priority Watch List were Argentina, Algeria, Chile, Indonesia, Pakistan, Russia, Thailand and Venezuela.
China, the second-largest US trading partner, remained on the list despite certain improvements, including an intellectual property law reform effort, the report said.
There were new and longstanding concerns about IPR protection and enforcement. The report highlighted new measures such as conditioning market access on the use of Chinese-indigenous IPR and the conduct of research and development in China.
"A wide range of US stakeholders in China continues to report serious obstacles to effective protection of IPR in all forms, including patents, copyrights, trademarks, trade secrets, and protection of pharmaceutical test data," it said.
"Given the size of China's consumer marketplace and its global importance as a producer of a broad range of products, China's protection and enforcement of IPR continues to be a focus of US trade policy."
India also remained on the list but the Obama adminstration was upbeat about future improvements under the government of business-friendly Narendra Modi, who took office last May, following last year's out-of-cycle (OCR) review to encourage progress on IPR issues.
The USTR has "the full expectation that the new channels for engagement created in the past year will bring about substantive and measurable improvements in India's IPR regime for the benefit of a broad range of innovative and creative industries."
It said it would not announce another OCR for India "at this time" but would monitor progress over the coming months.
The USTR had 24 countries on its less-serious Watch List for underlying IPR problems that included North America Free Trade Agreement partners Canada, the largest US trading partner, and Mexico, the number three.
The Special 301 Report, based on public testimony in a review of 72 trading partners, covers a broad range of issues, from online piracy and counterfeiting to theft of trade secrets and legal barriers.
"Tens of millions of Americans owe their jobs to intellectual property-intensive industries. Strong and balanced protection and enforcement of intellectual property are critical for promoting exports of US innovative and creative goods and services, and sustaining those jobs here at home," said US Trade Representative Michael Froman.
Froman said in a statement that the report served as an "important tool" in the government's effort to "ensure that Americans can bring their inventions and creations to people all over the world without their work being infringed or misappropriated."
The 2015 report also underscored some success stories. Italy, for example, had implemented new regulations in 2014 to combat online copyright piracy.
The Philippines, which came off the Watch List last year, had undertaken enforcement reforms that included increased seizures of pirated and counterfeit goods.