OFFICE
of the
UNITED SES TRADE REPESENIVE
EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT
201
8
 Out-of-Cycle Review of Notorious Markets
 
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Overview of the Results of the 2018 Out-of-Cycle Review of Notorious Markets
Commercial-scale copyright piracy and trademark counterfeiting
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 cause significant financial losses for U.S. right holders and legitimate businesses, undermine critical U.S. comparative advantages in innovation and creativity to the detriment of American workers, and  pose significant risks to consumer health and safety. The Notorious Markets List (List) highlights prominent and illustrative examples of online and physical marketplaces that reportedly engage in and facilitate substantial piracy and counterfeiting. A goal of the List is to motivate appropriate action by the private sector and governments to reduce piracy and counterfeiting. The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) highlights the following marketplaces because they exemplify global counterfeiting and piracy concerns and because the scale of infringing activity in these marketplaces can cause significant harm to U.S. intellectual  property (IP) owners, consumers, legitimate online platforms, and the economy. Some of the identified markets reportedly host a combination of legitimate and unauthorized activities. Others openly or reportedly exist solely to engage in or facilitate unauthorized activity. The List includes several previously identified markets because owners, operators, and governments failed to address previously stated concerns. Other previously identified markets may not appear in the present List for a variety of reasons, including that: the market has closed or its popularity or significance has diminished; enforcement or voluntary action has reduced or eliminated the prevalence of IP-infringing goods or services; market owners or operators are cooperating with right holders or government authorities to address infringement; or the market is no longer a noteworthy example of its kind. In some cases, online markets in the 2017 List are not highlighted this year but improvements are still needed, and the United States may continue to raise concerns related to these markets on a bilateral basis with the countries concerned. The List is not an exhaustive account of all physical and online markets worldwide in which IP infringement may take place. The List does not make findings of legal violations. Nor
does it reflect the U.S. Government’s analysis of the general IP protection and enforcement
climate in the countries connected with the listed markets. A broader analysis of IP protection
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The terms “copyright piracy” and “trademark counterfeiting” appear below as “piracy” and “counterfeiting,”
respectively.
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