New Delhi, Apr 26 (PTI) The United States Trade Representative (USTR) has again placed India on its Priority Watch List, along with six other nations, including Russia and China, for alleged inadequate intellectual property rights' protection and enforcement.

It has alleged that India's overall IP enforcement remains inadequate and trademark counterfeiting continues to remain problematic.

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The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) on Wednesday released its Special 301 Report on the adequacy and effectiveness of US trading partners' protection and enforcement of intellectual property (IP) rights.

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"Patent issues continue to be of particular concern in India," the USTR said, citing the potential threat of patent revocations, lack of presumption of patent validity, and the narrow patentability criteria under the Indian Patents Act impact companies across different sectors.

"In this year's Report, trading partners on the Priority Watch List present the most significant concerns this year regarding insufficient IP protection or enforcement or actions that otherwise limited market access for persons relying on intellectual property protection. Seven countries are on the Priority Watch List: Argentina, Chile, China, India, Indonesia, Russia, and Venezuela," it said.

It added that these countries will be the subject of particularly intense bilateral engagement during the coming year.

The Special 301 report is an annual review of the global state of IP protection and enforcement.

It added that over the past year, India has remained inconsistent in its progress on intellectual property (IP) protection and enforcement.

Although India has worked to strengthen its IP regime, including raising public awareness of the importance of IP, and engagement with the United States on IP issues has increased, there continues to be a lack of progress on long-standing IP concerns, it said.

"India remains one of the world's most challenging major economies with respect to protection and enforcement of IP," it said, adding patent issues continue to be of particular concern in India.

It also said that the potential threat of patent revocations, lack of presumption of patent validity, and the narrow patentability criteria under the Indian Patents Act impact companies across different sectors.

"Moreover, patent applicants continue to confront costly and time-consuming pre- and post-grant oppositions, long waiting periods to receive patent grants and excessive reporting requirements. Stakeholders continue to express concerns over vagueness in the interpretation of the Indian Patents Act," it said.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)