India remains on U.S. intellectual property priority watch list

Vietnam was identified as a priority foreign country, the first time in 13 years that a country has been included in this category. Within the next 30 days, USTR will decide whether to launch an investigation into Vietnam under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 based on the reasons stated in the report. Argentina has been removed from the priority watch list, while the EU has been added to the watch list due to US concerns over geographical indications and the recent interim agreement on EU generic medicines legislation.In addition to India and China, other countries on the priority watch list include Russia, Indonesia, Chile and Venezuela.In the case of India, USTR noted the steps taken by the Indian government to strengthen its intellectual property regime but also said there was a “lack of progress” on several long-standing concerns raised in earlier reports. “India remains one of the most challenging major economies in the world when it comes to intellectual property protection and enforcement,” said the latest report released on Thursday.The main concern is the Indian Patent Act, which often challenges applications filed by U.S. companies, especially pharmaceutical giants, and the flexibility it allows the government. Long-term unresolved issues have been a vexing issue in successive reports, and the latest one is no exception.“Stakeholders also continue to express concerns about whether India has an effective system in place to prevent unfair commercial use and unauthorized disclosure of undisclosed test or other data generated to obtain marketing approval for pharmaceuticals and agrichemical products,” the report said.It also criticized India for imposing high tariffs on intellectual property-intensive products such as information and communications technology (ICT) products, solar equipment, medical devices, pharmaceuticals and capital goods. The Trump administration has repeatedly attacked India over tariffs.Other problems are common – poor copyright and trademark enforcement, and high levels of counterfeiting.