Canada is again on American sh*tlist when it comes to enforcing copyright

US government has just released its latest “notorious markets list” which names countries that don’t do a lot to enforce copyrights, trademarks, and intellectual property. Argentina, Chile, China, India, Indonesia, Russia, and Venezuela are all on the priority watch list of the Special 301 Report. Makes sense. I quote:

“China needs to address weak enforcement channels and a lack of transparency and judicial independence”. And “India remains one of the world’s most challenging major economies with respect to protection and enforcement of IP.” Meanwhile, in Indonesia, “concerns include widespread piracy and counterfeiting and, in particular, the lack of enforcement against counterfeit products”.

A bunch of Middle East countries has been given pats on the head for tightening things up: Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.

But back to the shitlist. Twenty countries are on another level of double-secret probation. The US views them as problem territories but not at the same intensity as China and Russia. Those countries are Algeria, Barbados, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, Guatemala, Mexico, Pakistan, Paraguay, Peru, Thailand, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam.

Oh, and Canada is here, too.

Again, I quote: “There remains] significant concerns regarding Canada’s IP environment” including “poor enforcement with respect to counterfeit or pirate goods at the border and within Canada [and] high levels of online piracy.”

This no doubt annoys the feds. I’m sure there will be some angry emails.