Even in intellectual property circles, the term “Special 301″ has historically been an obscure bit of jargon that didn’t merit much attention. In the past couple of years, though, it has gotten a lot more attention—at least in Canada, where it has been popping up often on blogs and in newspaper articles.
The term refers to a report published annually since 1989 by the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR), whose duties include monitoring international enforcement of intellectual property laws. Each year, under the Special 301 rubric, the trade representative’s office identifies the countries it believes are failing to adequately protect IP. Bad actors land on the agency’s “watch list.” Really bad ones go on the “priority watch list.”
