For the first time since 2012, Canada has once again been named
to the "Priority" Watch List in the 2018 Special 301
Report on Intellectual Property Rights, put out by the Office of
the United States Trade Representative (USTR).
This downgrade is in part due to Canada's "poor border
enforcement" relating to counterfeit goods. Concerns over
Canada's protections for intellectual property had abated
somewhat – if not entirely – in 2013, with
strengthening of Canada's copyright laws and the passing of
legislation specifically designed and intended to combat
counterfeiting. However, the lack of criminal enforcement and
effective border enforcement, along with exceptions which allow for
counterfeit goods to be transshipped through Canada into the United
States, have placed Canada back on the priority list, on the same
level as China, India, Russia and other countries with
traditionally weaker protection for intellectual property
rights.
