Ukraine headed the list of countries violating copyrights

Ukraine took first place in the published annual special report of the US Torgmark (USTR) among countries with the most dysfunctional situation in the field of observing intellectual property rights. It is reported by The Business Times.

In its “Special Report 301” (PDF), the Trading Representation of the United States called Ukraine the most “significant foreign state” of all where the rights to intellectual property of American companies are violated.

The unusual situation is emphasized by the fact that usually the list of countries of violators is published without comment and even more prioritization. In the entire history of the existence of a special account since 1989, such attention to a single country has occurred for the first time.

The US trade representative emphasized that Ukraine has repeatedly promised to improve the situation around the copyright, but has not fulfilled its obligations. The “Special Report 301” indicates that the country has an “unjust and opaque” system for collecting copyright deductions, no measures to combat Internet piracy are taken and illegal software is widely used, including government agencies.

The new “achievement” of Ukraine can lead to problems in world markets and, in particular, to the abolition of some trade benefits. This has already happened in 2001-2005: then, at the initiative of the departments, Ukraine was excluded from the “Universal Preferences System”-an American program that allows certain countries to import its goods in reduced duties to the United States.

In addition to Ukraine, the top 10 +1 notorious copyright violators included Russia, Argentina, Algeria, Venezuela, India, Indonesia, China, Pakistan, Thailand and Chile.