USA places Switzerland on piracy watch list
The Office of the United States Trade Representative has released its annual Special 301 Report, which summarises the state of intellectual property rights (IPR) protection in US trading partners. The report includes a ‘Priority Watch List’ and a ‘Watch List’, which consists of countries with poor IPR protection and enforcement. For the first time, Switzerland is included in the Watch List due to poor records related to online copyrights and trademark protection in ccTLDs. The report notes that Switzerland ‘has become an increasingly popular host country for infringing websites,’ addressing a concern that was previously mentioned the 2015 Notorious Market List.