Cooperation of US and Japan in Strengthening IP Protection

In the 2010 National Trade Estimate Report on Japan, the US Government (USTR) suggests its collaboration with Japan in efforts to strengthen the IP protection around the world, especially in Asia. The measures that USTR urges Japan to take include:

• improving copyright protection and enforcement;
• improving the efficacy of the patent application process; and
• actively working with the United States to develop ways to promote greater protection of IPR worldwide, especially in Asia.

The Report does not provide detailed information on the cooperation for the greater IP protection. But ACTA is a clear example of such a collaboration where they presented joint proposals.

USTR - 2010 Trade Policy Agenda and 2009 Annual Report

The USTR submitted the Report to the US congress on March 5, 2010. In its Chapter III "Bilateral and Regional Negotiations and Agreements", the Report mentions the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum.

Concerning the US-Japan trade relation, it says a cooperative effort to strengthen the Japanese Copyright Law which was made throught the US-Japan Regulatory Reform and Competition Policy Initiative.

According to the Initiative's annual report to the Leaders of 2009, the effort includes: restriction to the private use exception (downloading a musical work or a motion picture from an infringing source with the knowledge that the source is infringing is no longer an exception by the revised Copyright Act which passed the Diet on June 12, 2009); and typical TRIPS-plus provisions such as technical protection measures (for access control), copyright term extension, and statutory damages.

As for Korea, "Korea has been an active participant in efforts to strengthen international IPR enforcement by joining the United States and others in negotiating the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA)."