109 HCON 230 IH: Expressing the sense of the Congress that the Russian Federation must protect intellectual property rights. U.S. House of Representatives 2005-07-28 text/xml EN Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain.

IV 109th CONGRESS 1st Session H. CON. RES. 230 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES July 28, 2005 Mr. Issa (for himself and Ms. Watson) submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means CONCURRENT RESOLUTION Expressing the sense of the Congress that the Russian Federation must protect intellectual property rights.

Whereas the protection of intellectual property is critical to the Nation's economic competitiveness in the 21st century; Whereas Russia remains on the Special 301 Priority Watch List compiled by the United States Trade Representative (USTR), and the Congress is gravely concerned about the failure of the Russian Federation to live up to international standards in the protection of intellectual property rights, a core American asset; Whereas the Congress wants to ensure that the Russian Federation redoubles its efforts to adopt and enforce aggressive laws, policies, and practices in the fight against piracy and counterfeiting; Whereas the Congress is particularly concerned that the Russian Federation is, in the words of Senate Concurrent Resolution 28, a place where piracy that is open and notorious is permitted to operate without meaningful hindrance from the government; Whereas, according to USTR, enforcement of intellectual property rights in Russia remains weak and caused substantial losses for the U.S. copyright, trademark, and patent industries in the last year. Piracy in all copyright sectors continues unabated, and the U.S. copyright industry estimated losses of $1.7 billion in 2004.; Whereas the Russian Federation must understand that failure to adequately protect and enforce intellectual property rights will have political and economic ramifications for its relationship with the United States; Whereas accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) represents an agreement to conform one's practices to the rule of law, and to international standards in the WTO Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS); Whereas notwithstanding some recent legislative improvements, Russia's regime to protect intellectual property rights does not conform with TRIPS standards; Whereas the United States can ill afford deterioration of the world trading system by permitting the entry of a country into the WTO that has not demonstrated its willingness and ability to conform its practices to the requirements of the TRIPS; and Whereas the leaders of the G-8, including President Putin of the Russian Federation, recently pledged to reduce intellectual property piracy through more effective enforcement: Now, therefore, be it

That it is the sense of the Congress that— (1)the Russian Federation should provide adequate and effective protection of intellectual property rights, or it risks losing its eligibility to participate in the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) program; and (2)as part of its effort to accede to the World Trade Organization, the Russian Federation must ensure that intellectual property is securely protected in law and in practice, by demonstrating that the country is willing and able to meet its international obligations in this respect.