2015 Out-of-Cycle Review of Notorious Markets
The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) has developed the List under the auspices of the annual Special 301 process. USTR solicited comments regarding potential markets to highlight in this year’s List through a Request for Public Comments published in the Federal Register (WWW.REGULATIONS.GOV, Docket Number USTR-2015-0016). The List is based on publicly-available information. USTR highlights these markets not only because they exemplify global counterfeiting and piracy concerns, but also because the scale of infringing activity in such markets can cause significant economic harm to U.S. intellectual property rights (IPR) holders. Some of the identified markets reportedly host a combination of legitimate and unauthorized activities. Others reportedly exist solely to engage in or facilitate unauthorized activity. The List is not an exhaustive list of all physical and online markets worldwide in which IPR infringement takes place. USTR has identified notorious markets in the Special 301 Report since 2006.
