A staff briefing note to the trade minister has dismissed a U.S. report that put Canada on a “watch list” for not protecting copyrights enough, calling the action a “political tool.”
The 2024 “Special 301 Report,“ released in April by the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), looks at how well other countries protect and enforce intellectual property (IP) rights. It divides over 100 trade partners into three categories: ”Priority Watch List,“ ”Watch List,“ and ”Priority Foreign Country,” based on how serious their IP protection issues are.
