International Creativity and Theft-prevention Caucus Applauds USTR Report Highlighting Global Counterfeiting Problem

Statement

Today Congressmen Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) and Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), the House co-chairs of the Congressional International Creativity and Theft-Prevention Caucus, issued the following statement in support of the U.S. Trade Representative's (USTR) efforts to identify areas of concern in its 2015 Out-of-Cycle Review of Notorious Markets.

"These notorious markets exemplify global counterfeiting and piracy concerns and cause significant economic harm to U.S. intellectual property rights holders. The online and physical sites included in the report from the USTR hurt American songwriters and recording artists, book publishers, video game developers, movie and television creators, and the legitimate distribution services that bring their products to the global stage.

"We are encouraged to see progress made over the last year to close online markets that facilitate piracy on a massive scale such as the closure of pirate torrent website YTS and affiliated streaming site "Popcorn Time,' and the closure of free-tv-video-online.me, a website that indexed and provided streaming services to pirated television content. However, the challenges of sustained enforcement for online piracy are evident including domain name hopping and the cloning of closed sites, and the return to the list of Putlocker, a website that uses a Swiss hosting service that has become a safe haven for multiple pirate websites.

"The USTR's report also recognizes the efforts of Vietnamese social media site and music portal, Zing.vn, and notes the role that the government of Vietnam can play to better enforce intellectual property rights so that marketplaces doing the right thing are not at a competitive disadvantage. The online and physical markets on this list are a good example of the hundreds of nominated markets that undermine legitimate trade in American entertainment products and services. This list is one element of the USTR's effort in promoting adequate and effective protection of intellectual property rights and we appreciate their efforts."

Background: The International Creativity and Theft-Prevention Caucus was originally formed in 2003 to call attention to the rampant theft of Intellectual Property, both online and in physical marketplaces, and to call attention to the very real economic impacts in the United States. Since its founding, the Caucus has shined a spotlight on nations and actors who are failing to meet their obligations to protect intellectual property. The goal of the Caucus is to provide briefings for Congressional delegations traveling to countries with significant piracy problems, staff and member briefings and forums on international intellectual property protection and piracy, demonstrations of new technologies and products designed to improve consumers' entertainment experiences and to reduce piracy and to work closely with the committees of jurisdiction in the House and Senate on related hearings and legislation.

Source