On February 28, the Office of the United States Trade Representative released the first, annual, stand-alone report listing so-called "Notorious Markets" - the most prominent physical and Internet-based markets dealing in pirated or counterfeit goods "that have been the subject of enforcement action or that may merit further investigation for possible intellectual property rights infringements." A copy of the report is available here. The report includes a number of well-known websites in different categories, such as ThePirateBay and torrentz.com in the "Bit Torrent Indexing" category and Baidu - the most visited site in China - in the "Linking" category. According to Christopher Barnett, an attorney with Scott & Scott, LLP: "The Office of the USTR previously published its Notorious Markets list within a larger, annual Special 301 Report, and it made the decision to issue a separate report in order to highlight the problem represented by these Notorious Markets. That action represents one more step in furtherance of the U.S. government's stated interest in curbing IP-rights violations domestically and worldwide." For more information, please contact Mr. Barnett at 800-596-6176 or cbarnett@scottandscottllp.com.
About the author
Christopher Barnett:
Christopher represents clients in a variety of business, intellectual property and IT-related contexts, with matters involving trademark registration and enforcement, software and licensing disputes and litigation, and mergers, divestments and service transactions. Christopher’s practice includes substantial attention to concerns faced by media & technology companies and to disputes involving new media, especially the fast-evolving content on the Internet.
Get in touch: cbarnett@scottandscottllp.com | 800.596.6176