In its latest report on the protection and enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights abroad, the EC identifies countries on which to focus future EU action.
For the EU, Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) are at the centre of the promotion of innovation, growth and economic activities of European companies. From 2014 to 2016, industries intensively using IPR generated 84 million European jobs and 45% of the EU’s GDP. IPR are even more relevant in the export sector: In the same period, IPR-intensive industries accounted for 82% of EU exports. Given its active interest in efficient and balanced IP systems abroad, the EU also relies on its trade agenda by including standard dispositions on a high level of intellectual property protection in trade agreements with third countries
In the beginning of January, the European Commission (EC) published an updated report on IPR protection and enforcement in third countries. Phil Hogan, EU Commissioner for Trade, said that the “information gathered in the report will enable us to become even more efficient in protecting EU firms and workers against intellectual property infringements like counterfeiting or copyright piracy.” The report has been published biennially since 2006, and is amongst others based on an EU stakeholder consultation to gather specific information on the state of IPR.
The report contains an updated list of three categories of priority countries, which are ranked according to the scale and persistence of IPR problems: (1) China, (2) India, Indonesia, Russia, Turkey, Ukraine and (3) Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador, Malaysia, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia and Thailand. According to the EU customs authorities, China and Hong Kong are the origin of more than 80% of seized pirated and counterfeit goods, with forced technology transfer being “an increasingly important trade irritant”.
EU instruments to advocate for IPR protection abroad include dialogues, working groups and technical programmes, where the EC engages with key countries and regions like China, Latin America, Southeast Asia or Africa. Specific actions of past years included trainings for custom officers, judges and patent examiners and technical support for the adherence to international IPR treaties. The report especially highlights IPR related to plant varieties, a priority of the new EC, and encourages further research and innovation in plan breeding. This includes the development of new drought-, flood- and heat-resistant crops, for better responding to the negative consequences of climate change.
Besides outlining future thematic and geographical priorities for IPR protection, the report also states that the EC will “closely monitor the situation in other countries where IP enforcement gives rise to concerns”, such as Israel, Switzerland and the United Arab Emirates.