Each year, the Office of the US Trade Representative publishes two reports pertinant to media piracy: the Special 301 Review and Notorious Markets List. The period during which the media & entertainment industry and others with intellectual property interrests may submit comments that would be considered and incorporated into the Special 301 report closed in mid-February, after which a public hearing was held.
February 25 was the deadline for submission of post-hearing comments from those who testified at the hearing. Nearly all of the submitted comments came in during the last two weeks of the comment period. The final report will be published in April 2026.
The International Intellectual Property Alliance (IIPA) recommended that Chile, China India, Indonesia, Mexico, the Russian Federation, South Africa and Vietnam be designated as priorities; and further recommending an additional 11 countries for the USTA’s Watch List. Piracy Monitor will provide a summary of this and further submissions.
See below for links to the submitted comments. Notable absences – organizations that have made submissions in the past, but not for this round – included the Motion Picture Association (and its anti-piracy arm, ACE), and the International Broadcaster Coalition Against Piracy (IBCAP).
Why it matters
Each year, the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) conducts a review to identify countries that deny adequate and effective protection of intellectual property (IP) rights or deny fair and equitable market access to U.S. persons who rely on IP protection. Based on this review, the U.S. Trade Representative determines which, if any, of these countries to identify as Priority Foreign Countries. USTR requests written comments that identify acts, policies, or practices that may form the basis of a country’s identification as a Priority Foreign Country or placement on the Priority Watch List or Watch List
The Report identifies a wide range of concerns that limit innovation and investment, including:
- The continuing challenges of copyright piracy and the sale of counterfeit trademarked products on the Internet;
- The deterioration in the effectiveness of IP protection and enforcement and overall market access for persons relying on IP in a number of trading partner markets;
- Reported inadequacies in trade secret protection in countries around the world, as well as an increasing incidence of trade secret misappropriation;
- Troubling “indigenous innovation” policies that may unfairly disadvantage U.S. rights holders in foreign markets;
- Additional market access barriers, including nontransparent, discriminatory or otherwise trade-restrictive, measures that appear to impede access to healthcare and copyright-protected content; and,
- Ongoing, systemic IP enforcement issues at borders and in many trading partner markets around the world.
The United States uses the review and resulting Report to focus our engagement on these issues, and looks forward to constructive cooperation with the trading partners identified in the Report to improve the environment for authors, brand owners, and inventors around the world.
Further reading
All comments submitted (87). Landing page. 2026 Special 301 Review: Identification of countries under Section 182 of the Trade Act of 1974: Request for Public Comment and Announcement of Public Hearing. Office of the US Trade Representative, Executive Office of the President
2026 Special 301 Review: Identification of countries under Section 182 of the Trade Act of 1974: Request for Public Comment and Announcement of Public Hearing. Landing page with explanation of the report and instructions to submit comments. Office of the US Trade Representative, Executive Office of the President
Special 301 Review. Landing page linking to Special 301 reports going back to 2010 and prior. Office of the US Trade Representative, Executive Office of the President
