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- Mexico – Mexico enacted legislation granting ex officio authority to its law enforcement officials to initiate criminal investigations against trademark counterfeiting and copyright piracy without requiring the rights holder to first file a complaint.
- Philippines – The Philippines enacted legislation to address unauthorized camcording of motion pictures in theaters.
- Russia – Russia enacted four pieces of IPR legislation, which complete the legislative commitments it made in the 2006 Bilateral Agreement on Protection and Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights. These measures are: (1) amendments to Part IV of the Civil Code (governing intellectual property generally); (2) enactment of the Federal Law on Customs Regulation granting ex officio authority to customs officials; (3) amendments to the Law on Activity Licensing, which ensures that infringers cannot renew optical media production licenses; and (4) amendments to the Law on Circulation of Medicines to protect undisclosed test or other undisclosed data generated to obtain marketing approval.
- Spain – Spain took action to address the problem of copyright piracy over the Internet by passing legislation that will provide a mechanism for rights holders to remove or block access to infringing content online.
The United States will continue to work with its trading partners to further enhance IPR protection and enforcement during the coming year.
Initiatives to Strengthen IPR Protection and Enforcement Internationally
The United States has worked to promote adequate and effective protection and enforcement of IPR through a variety of mechanisms, including the following initiatives:
- Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA): The ACTA negotiations, which concluded in November 2010, reflect a commitment by the negotiating parties not only to have strong laws on the books, but also to pursue the international cooperation and meaningful enforcement practices necessary to make intellectual property protection effective. ACTA will be the first agreement of its kind to both require strong enforcement provisions and promote the cooperation and key practices that make these provisions effective, raising international standards for the enforcement of IPR.
- Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP): The TPP is a key initiative through which the United States seeks to advance the multi-faceted U.S. trade and investment interests in the Asia-Pacific region by negotiating an ambitious, 21st-century regional trade agreement along with Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Chile, Malaysia, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, and Vietnam. The TPP negotiations have begun with this initial group of like-minded countries with the goal of creating a platform for integration across the region, and the TPP will include strong standards for the protection and enforcement of IPR.
- World Trade Organization (WTO): The multilateral structure of WTO agreements provides opportunities for USTR to lead engagement with trading partners on IPR issues in several contexts, including accession processes for prospective members; the Council for Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS Council); and WTO dispute settlement.
- Bilateral and Regional Initiatives: The United States works with many countries to strengthen IPR protection and enforcement through the provisions of bilateral and regional
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