|
The U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) has added Korea to its ¡°priority watch list¡± (PWL) on Tuesday in its ¡®Special 301¡¯ annual reports on intellectual property rights.
The Ministry of Trade and Commerce and the Korea International Trade Association (KITA) said Tuesday that the USTR categorized Korea under the PWL for a) failing to prevent digital piracy of American music; b)illegal sales of DVDs; c) the prevalence of imitation goods; and d) infringement of patent rights.
This year¡¯s report listed 85 countries, an increase over the 74 countries in last year¡¯s report. The USTR elevated Korea to its PWL from the ¡°watch list¡± (WL).
15 countries, including Korea, Taiwan and the European Union, were put on the PWL and 34 countries including Canada, Italy and Israel were named to the WL.
A government official said that through the diplomatic process the Korean government has expressed its regret to the U.S. government, seeing that the Korean government¡¯s effort was not fully reflected upon this years report. The Korean government has actively promoted policy reforms and strictly controlled crimes that violated intellectual property rights, said the official.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
|
