2013 Out-of-Cycle Review of Notorious Markets

The Notorious Markets List (“List”) identifies select online and physical marketplaces that reportedly engage in and facilitate substantial piracy and counterfeiting. The Office of the United States Trade Representative (“USTR”) has developed this List under the auspices of the annual Special 301 process, taking into account public comments solicited by USTR through the Federal Register and the input of other Federal agencies. The List identifies marketplaces that have been the subject of enforcement actions or that may merit further investigation for possible intellectual property rights (“IPR”) infringements. These markets have been selected for inclusion both because they exemplify concerns about trademark counterfeiting and copyright piracy on a global basis and because the scale and popularity of these marketplaces can cause economic harm to U.S. and other IPR holders. They may also pose health and safety risks to consumers as well as provide inadequate safeguards for consumer privacy and security.