14 DAY TRIAL // Canada and Switzerland are among two dozen countries that are on America's "watch list" because they fail to live up to the US copyright protection standards.
This information appears in the yearly Special 301 Report from the Office of the United States Trade Representative, TorrentFreak reports.
The purpose of this report is to "shame" those countries that simply aren't doing enough to protect US intellectual property rights. The report lists about two dozen countries that threaten the intellectual property rights of US companies.
"One of the top trade priorities for the Trump administration is to use all possible source of leverage to encourage other countries to open their markets to US exports of goods and services, and provide adequate and effective protection and enforcement of US intellectual property rights," writes the US Trade Representative.
The US annoyed with Canada and Switzerland
The US is annoyed with Canada for not allowing its border officials to seize and destroy pirated and counterfeit goods passing through. Furthermore, Canada's rules indicate that if someone has an education use for the content, they are exempt from copyright infringement.
"The United States also remains deeply troubled by the broad interpretation of an ambiguous education-related exception to copyright that has significantly damaged the market for educational publishers and authors," the report reads.
As for Switzerland, the report states that the country is increasingly popular for pirate sites seeking domain hosting and has been so since 2010.
"Seven years have elapsed since the issuance of a decision by the Swiss Federal Supreme Court, which has been implemented to essentially deprive copyright holders in Switzerland of the means to enforce their rights against online infringers. Enforcement is a critical element of providing meaningful IP protection," reads the paper.
Another country on the list is Romania, which the US advises to fully staff and fund an IP Coordination Department in the General Prosecutor's Office in order to fight against piracy. The document mentions online piracy, unlicensed software use, and distribution of counterfeit goods as some of the issues the country has.
Countries on the priority watch list are China, Indonesia, Thailand, India, Algeria, Kuwait, Russia, Ukraine, Argentina, Chile and Venezuela. Those on the watch list are Vietnam, Pakistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Egypt, Lebanon, Bulgaria, Greece, Romania, Switzerland, Turkey, Canada, Mexico, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Barbados, Jamaica, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru.