“US adds Bulgaria and Belarus to intellectual property watchlist”

The Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR) has added Belarus and Bulgaria to the watch list for compliance with intellectual property rights, Reuters reported, citing BTA.

A special report adds Bulgaria, a US NATO ally, to the watch list because Sofia has not sufficiently addressed shortcomings in investigating cases of online piracy. Last year, the USTR announced that it would conduct a review of our country for this very reason.

Minsk was added to the list because of a new law legalizing the unauthorized use of copyrighted works by countries that have imposed sanctions on Belarus for its role in supporting the Russian-led war in Ukraine. The suspension of the review of Ukraine’s practices in the field of intellectual property protection, announced last year, due to Russia’s invasion of its southern neighbor, which began in February 2022, is also being extended.

The report now includes 29 countries on the watch or priority watch list for deficiencies and violations of intellectual property rights. This year’s priority list includes China, Chile, Argentina, India, Indonesia, Russia and Venezuela.

Our country is in the one with a lower category of danger, which also includes countries such as Canada.

In April of this year, the US announced that it would conduct a special investigation of Bulgaria into why it has not made any progress in the last 5 years in fulfilling the promises made to prosecute cases of online piracy and violation of intellectual rights. A week ago, the Bulgarian government proposed a bill to amend the Criminal Code to increase penalties in this area.

In the reasons for the project, it was announced that it was introduced because of “the criticism directed at the state under Section “Special 301″ of the US Trade Act in connection with the protection of intellectual property, especially in the field of online piracy”. Years ago, Bulgaria was even on the 301 blacklist in question, but it was removed after numerous large-scale police operations.

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