Government Seeks to Further Expose Notorious Markets List to Curb Global Piracy and Counterfeiting
Global piracy and counterfeiting continue to thrive due in part to marketplaces that deal in infringing goods. The Notorious Markets List identifies selected markets, including those on the Internet, which exemplify the problem of marketplaces dealing in infringing goods and helping to sustain global piracy and counterfeiting. These are marketplaces that have been the subject of enforcement action or that may merit further investigation for possible infringements of intellectual property rights. The Notorious Markets List will now be published separately in an effort to further expose these markets.The Notorious Markets List does not purport to reflect findings of legal violations, nor does it reflect the United States Government’s analysis of the general climate of protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights in the countries concerned. That broader analysis of IPR protection and enforcement is contained in the annual Special 301 report, published at the end of April every year.
Key Categories Contained in the Notorious Markets List
B2B and B2C
Business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) websites have been cited by the industry as offering a wide range of infringing products (such as cigarettes, clothing, manufactured goods, pharmaceutical products and sporting goods) to consumers and businesses while maintaining intellectual property policies that are inconsistent with industry norms.
BitTorrent indexing
BitTorrent indexing sites can be used for the high speed location and downloading of allegedly infringing materials from other users. The sites identified below illustrate the extent to which some BitTorrent indexing sites have become notorious hubs for infringing activities, even though such sites may also be used for lawful purposes.
ThePirateBay
ThePirateBay recently ranked among the top 100 websites in both global and U.S. traffic, and has been the target of a notable criminal prosecution in Sweden.
IsoHunt
Canada-based IsoHunt, which has been the subject of civil litigation in both Canada and the U.S., recently ranked among the top 300 websites in global traffic and among the top 600 in U.S. traffic.
Btjunkie
This site is among the largest and most popular aggregators of public and non-public “torrents,” which find and initiate the downloading process for a particular file.
Live Sports Telecast Piracy
Live sports telecast piracy affects amateur and professional sports leagues by making these protected telecasts and broadcasts freely available on the Internet.
Smartphone Software
A number of websites are making Smartphone software applications available to the public without compensating rights holders.
91.com
This site is reportedly responsible for more than half of all downloaded applications in China.
Physical Markets around the World China Small Commodities Market (Yiwu, China)
The China Small Commodities Market in Yiwu reportedly sells mostly consumer goods. Industry has cited the market as a center for wholesaling of infringing goods, making this market the origin of many counterfeit goods available internationally.
Harco Glodok (Jakarta, Indonesia)
This market is one of many in Indonesia known for counterfeit and pirated goods, and is particularly notorious for pirated optical discs. Ladies Market (Mongkok, Hong Kong) This well-known tourist shopping area is one of several markets in Hong Kong that have been targeted for anti-counterfeiting enforcement by Hong Kong Customs.
Luowu Market (Shenzhen, China)
Shenzhen and Guangzhou provinces are reportedly home to dozens of markets offering counterfeit or pirated goods. The display of signs prohibiting the sale of such goods has not served as an effective deterrent, as exemplified by the Luowu market.
Nehru Place (New Delhi, India)
Nehru Place is reportedly one of the many markets in major cities throughout India that are known for dealing in large volumes of pirated software, optical media and counterfeit goods.
Silk Street Market (Beijing, China)
Industry has cited Beijing’s Silk Street Market as a particularly prominent example of the counterfeiting of consumer and industrial products that is endemic in many retail and wholesale markets throughout China.
Tepito (Mexico City)
Tepito is reportedly the main warehousing and distribution center for pirated and counterfeit products sold at numerous informal markets throughout Mexico.
The list can be found at http://www.ustr.gov/webfm_send/2595, but is by no means an exhaustive listing of all notorious markets around the world. Rather, the list highlights with concern some of the most prominent examples of notorious markets in each of the categories referenced above.
SOURCE: USTR
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