a deterrent enforcement system include requirements that pirated and counterfeit goods, as well as the materials and implements used for their production, are seized and destroyed.
The manufacture and distribution of pharmaceutical products bearing counterfeit trademarks is a growing problem that has important consequences for consumer health and safety. Such trademark counterfeiting is one dimension of the larger problem of substandard medicines. The United States notes its particular concern with the proliferation of the manufacture, sale, and distribution of counterfeit pharmaceuticals in trading partners such as Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Lebanon, Peru, and Russia. The U.S. Government, through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and other agencies, supports programs in Sub-Saharan Africa and elsewhere that assist trading partners in protecting the public against counterfeit medicines introduced into their markets.
In many cases, the bulk active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) that are used to manufacture pharmaceuticals that bear counterfeit trademarks are not made according to good manufacturing practices. Hence, these products may contain sub-standard and potentially hazardous materials. For instance, in China, domestic chemical manufacturers that produce API have avoided regulatory oversight by failing to declare that a bulk chemical is intended for use in pharmaceutical products. This contributes to China being a major source country for APIs used in counterfeit pharmaceutical products. Although China has taken some welcome steps, such as requiring manufacturers to register with the State Food and Drug Administration, more effective regulatory controls are needed.
Piracy over the Internet and Digital Piracy
The increased availability of broadband Internet connections around the world is generating many benefits, from increased economic activity and new online business models to greater access to and exchange of information. However, this phenomenon has also made the Internet an extremely efficient vehicle for disseminating copyright-infringing products, replacing legitimate markets for rights holders.
Piracy over the Internet is a significant concern in many U.S. trading partners. Unauthorized retransmission of live sports telecasts over the Internet continues to be a growing problem for many trading partners, particularly China, and websites that link to infringing content are exacerbating the problem. In addition, piracy using new technologies, such as media boxes, is an emerging problem internationally. U.S. copyright industries also report growing problems with piracy using mobile telephones, tablets, flash drives, and other mobile technologies. In some countries, these devices are being pre-loaded with illegal content before they are sold. In addition to piracy of music and films, U.S. industry reports the emergence of pirate servers, or "grey shards," whereby players of cloud-based entertainment software access these unauthorized servers to play copyrighted video games that are made available through hacked software and/or circumvention of the rights holders' technological protection measures.
Also of concern is the distribution over the Internet of software that allows for the circumvention of technological protection measures used by rights holders to protect their content. A
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