RI retained on priority watch list

JAKARTA: The United States Trade Representative (USTR) has maintained Indonesia on its Priority Watch List for intellectual property protection violations, a statement says.

This is the third consecutive year that Indonesia has been included on the list for apparently failing to adequately protect U.S. intellectual property rights.

The USTR acknowledges that Indonesia has been making significant progress in the protection of intellectual property rights, but overall protection remains weak.

USTR classifies countries into three categories according to their performance in intellectual property rights protection.

The Priority Country status is given to countries with the worst conduct in intellectual property rights protection, followed by Priority Watch List and Watch List.

The USTR has examined the effectiveness of protection rights in 74 countries.

The U.S. copyright industry estimated financial losses of around US$253 million last year in Indonesia. -- JP