Somebody will have to explain to me how a country like Canada can be listed on the U.S. Trade Representative's Priority Watch List for worst intellectual property regimes and yet rank sixth best in the world for intellectual property protection, according to a study written by Taylor Wessing, a lawfirm specializing in enforcing intellectual property rights.
One of these studies must be buncombe, right?
The United States, ranked third, was dinged by Taylor Wessing for being a relatively expensive jurisdiction in which to enforce intellectual property rights.
Just to satisfy my curiosity I wrote down which countries appearing in Taylor Wessing's rankings were singled out for criticism by the U.S. Trade Representative. Looks like the USTR put Canada in with some pretty rough company. And it spared for scorn many countries that, in Taylor Wessing's estimation, are more hostile than Canada to intellectual property rights enforcement: Ireland, New Zealand, France, Singapore, Japan, Spain, South Africa, and South Korea.
| Jurisdiction | Taylor Wessing Rank | USTR 301 Designation |
|---|---|---|
| UK | 1 | -- |
| Germany | 2 | -- |
| USA | 3 | -- |
| Australia | 4 | -- |
| Netherlands | 5 | -- |
| Canada | 6 | Priority Watch |
| Ireland | 7 | -- |
| New Zealand | 8 | -- |
| France | 9 | -- |
| Singapore | 10 | -- |
| Japan | 11 | -- |
| Israel | 12 | Priority Watch |
| Spain | 13 | -- |
| South Africa | 14 | -- |
| South Korea | 15 | -- |
| Mexico | 16 | Watch |
| UAE | 17 | -- |
| Italy | 18 | Watch |
| Turkey | 19 | Watch |
| Poland | 20 | Watch |
| Russia | 21 | Priority Watch |
| Brazil | 22 | Watch |
| India | 23 | Priority Watch |
| China | 24 | Priority Watch |
Follow me on Twitter at @bnatechlaw
Comments