Selected trade pressures on intellectual property rights

National policies and practices as regards the granting of and exceptions to patents, copyrights, and other types of intellectual property are often influenced by pressure from other countries. The United States is the most important source of pressure on intellectual rights, although certainly not the only country to do so.

The USTR reports

The US pressures tend to be more transparent than most countries and include two widely read reports published annually by the United States Trade Representative (USTR).

Special 301 Report

The annual Special 301 Report, typically published at the end of April, is described as follows:

“The Special 301 Report (Report) is the result of an annual review of the state of intellectual property (IP) protection and enforcement in U.S. trading partners around the world, which the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) conducts pursuant to Section 182 of the Trade Act of 1974, as amended (the Trade Act, 19 U.S.C. § 2242). Congress amended the Trade Act in 1988 specifically “to provide for the development of an overall strategy to ensure adequate and effective protection of intellectual property rights and fair and equitable market access for United States persons that rely on protection of intellectual property rights.”1 In particular, Congress expressed its concern that “the absence of adequate and effective protection of United States intellectual property rights, and the denial of equitable market access, seriously impede the ability of the United States persons that rely on protection of intellectual property rights to export and operate overseas, thereby harming the economic interests of the United States.”

Copies of the Special 301 List are available on the USTR web page here:
https://ustr.gov/issue-areas/intellectual-property/special-301

KEI has some additional documents and analysis of the Special 301 list, including a table listing every time a country has appeared on the list, here:

https://www.keionline.org/ustr/special301

KEI also has some additional information on web pages that have links to 973 U.S. Department of State cables mentioning “Special 301” based on a 2011 search of Wikileaks cables, available here:

https://www.keionline.org/book/cables-mentioning-special-301-details-of-us-trade-pressure-on-ipr 

The NTE Report

Broader than intellectual property rights, but also relevant, is another USTR report titled “National Trade Estimate Report on Foreign Trade Barriers.” The 2024 version of the report is available here.
https://ustr.gov/sites/default/files/2024%20NTE%20Report_1.pdf

European Union

European Commission

The European Commission similarly publishes reports on intellectual property rights in third countries. In these reports the European Commission identifies ‘priority countries’ in which they view the state of intellectual property rights protection and enforcement to be a major source of concern.

Medicines Law & Policy published a blog outlining the pressure the European Union places on other countries on their use of TRIPS flexibilities and contextualizes it alongside the proposed ‘peace clause’ in the World Health Organization pandemic accord negotiations.

WTO Trade Review Comments by the European Union

On 2 June 2015 and 4 June 2015, the World Trade Organization (WTO) conducted a trade policy review of India. In this review, the European Union (and others) raised questions on India’s Patent Act, amongst other topics, read here:

On 14 September 2011 and 16 September 2011, the World Trade Organization (WTO) undertook a trade policy review of India. In this review, the European Union (and others) raised questions related to India’s IPR regime in the context of pharmaceuticals, read here:

Selected KEI blogs and reports on trade pressures

Below is a list of a few (definitely non-exhaustive) examples of KEI blogs and web pages featuring trade pressures on intellectual property and health, organised by countries subjected to trade pressures.

Colombia

Brazil

India

European Union

Italy

Taiwan

Thailand

Malaysia

Dominican Republic

South Africa

Argentina

Philippines

Guatemala

Finland

Portugal

Chile

Multiple Countries

Third-Party Content on Trade Pressure

Brazil

Colombia

India

Ecuador

Thailand

Indonesia

Multiple Countries