USTR Releases 2013 Notorious Markets List
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) released on Feb. 12 its 2013 Notorious Markets List, which identifies key cyber and physical locations that host trademark counterfeiting and copyright piracy on a commercial scale, along with other intellectual property (IP) rights infringements. The release is the result of the fourth Out-of-Cycle Review of Notorious Markets, initiated in September 2013 through a request for public comment published in the Federal Register. The list includes dozens of online marketplaces that facilitate IP violations, some with unconfirmed bases. The list also includes particular physical marketplaces, such as malls, markets and wholesale centers, in Argentina, China, Colombia, Ecuador, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Paraguay, Spain, Thailand and Ukraine.
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“According to a U.S. Commerce Department study released in 2012, America’s innovative and creative industries support roughly $775 billion in merchandise exports annually and 40 million jobs here at home," said USTR chief Michael Froman in a statement that accompanied the Notorious Markets List release. "The markets we have identified unfairly take from these American workers, diminishing the value and salability of their work and threatening their jobs. And some of the counterfeit goods sold in the identified physical markets, from medicines and personal care products to automotive parts, can even threaten the health and safety of consumers. The marketplaces identified here warrant the immediate attention of our trading partners."