Brussels, January 8 – The European Commission has published a new version of its Report on the protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights in third countries. The report flags third countries in which “the state of IPR protection and enforcement (both online and offline) gives rises to the greatest level of concern”.
For the first time, the 2020 edition dedicated a separate Annex to the protection and enforcement of Plant Varieties Rights. Largely based on the input submitted to the EU Commission by CIOPORA in 2019, the annex showcases country-specific analyses of PVP in Argentina, China, Ecuador, and India.
In respect of IP in general, the report classifies countries into three priority groups. The classification is based on the estimate of economic harm caused to the EU economy by the IP infringements in the respective countries. The priority groups are:
Priority 1: China;
Priority 2: India, Indonesia, Russia, Turkey, and Ukraine;
Priority 3: Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador, Malaysia, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia and Thailand.
As in the 2018 version of the report, China remains the top-priority accounting for more than 80% of the counterfeit seizures and pirated goods at the EU borders. A slight improvement can be noted in Argentina, which was moved from Priority 2 to Priority 3.