November 5, 2004
The US-Taiwan Business Council, citing progress made by Taiwan in combating intellectual property rights (IPR) violations over the last year, called for United States to remove Taiwan from the Special 301 Priority Watch List in a press release issued on October 12. Countries on this list of IPR violators face bilateral US trade sanctions if improvements are not made that address US IPR concerns. Taiwan has been stuck on this list since 2001 when it was first placed there.
In the past, the council has expressed support for the placement of Taiwan on the Special 301 and been critical of Taiwan's handling of IPR violations. However, it says Taiwan has made great progress recently and that, if this progress continues, it supports Taiwan's removal from the Priority Watch List.
Also, Jack Lu, deputy director-general of the Ministry of Economic Affairs' Intellectual Property Office, who returned recently from the US where he met with trade and IPR related officials and associations, said on October 13 that Taiwan may be removed from the list as early as the end of October. Lu said that Taiwan has made significant strides towards fighting IPR violators, pointing in particular to revisions to the Copyright Law that boost protection for digital-content publications and provide more specific definitions of copyright infringements.
The council also pointed to specific steps Taiwan has taken, including IPR training for judges and prosecutors, planning for the establishment of a dedicated IPR court and increased police crackdowns on IPR infringements at the street level and in ports.
In related news, the US-Taiwan Business Council also called for the US to resume negotiations with Taiwan on a Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA). Washington suspended the last round of talks in late 2002 because it saw no progress being made on several trade disagreements. This suspension effectively put all high-level economic contacts between the US and Taiwan on indefinite hold.
The council contends that Taiwan has made headway on each of the four issues of concern to the US: agriculture, pharmaceuticals, telecommunications and intellectual property rights protection.
The American Chamber of Commerce in Taipei has also called for a resumption of TIFA negotiations.
Taiwan is the eighth largest trading partner of the US.
(United Daily News, Central News Agency, Taipei Times)
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