[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 160 (Monday, August 19, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 42975-42976]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-17731]


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OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES TRADE REPRESENTATIVE

[Docket No. USTR-2019-0013]


2019 Special 301 Out-of-Cycle Review of Notorious Markets: 
Comment Request

AGENCY: Office of the United States Trade Representative.

ACTION: Request for comments.

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SUMMARY: The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) 
requests written comments that identify online and physical markets to 
be considered for inclusion in the 2019 Out-of-Cycle Review of 
Notorious Markets (Notorious Markets List). Conducted under the 
auspices of the Special 301 program, the Notorious Markets List 
identifies examples of online and physical markets based outside the 
United States that reportedly engage in and facilitate substantial 
copyright piracy or trademark counterfeiting. In 2010, USTR began 
publishing the Notorious Markets List separately from the annual 
Special 301 Report as an ``Out-of-Cycle Review.''

DATES: September 30, 2019 at 11:59 p.m. ET: Deadline for submission of 
written comments. October 15, 2019 at 11:59 p.m. ET: Deadline for 
submission of rebuttal comments and other information USTR should 
consider during the review.

ADDRESSES: You should submit written comments through the Federal 
eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the instructions 
for submitting comments in section III below. For alternatives to 
online submissions, please contact USTR at [email protected] 
before transmitting a comment and in advance of the relevant deadline.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jacob Ewerdt, Director for Innovation 
and Intellectual Property, at [email protected] or 202-395-3866. 
You can find information about the Special 301 Review, including the 
Notorious Markets List, at www.ustr.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Background

    The United States is concerned with trademark counterfeiting and 
copyright piracy on a commercial scale because these illicit activities 
cause significant financial losses for right holders, legitimate 
businesses, and governments. In addition, they undermine critical U.S. 
comparative advantages in innovation and creativity to the detriment of 
American workers and can pose significant risks to consumer health and 
safety as well as privacy and security. The Notorious Markets List 
identifies examples of online and physical markets based outside the 
United States that reportedly engage in and facilitate substantial 
copyright piracy or trademark counterfeiting.
    Beginning in 2006, USTR identified notorious markets in the annual 
Special 301 Report. In 2010, USTR announced that it would publish the 
Notorious Markets List as an Out-of-Cycle Review, separate from the 
annual Special 301 Report. USTR published the first Notorious Markets 
List in February 2011. USTR develops the annual Notorious Markets List 
based upon public comments solicited through the Federal Register and 
in consultation with other Federal agencies that serve on the Special 
301 Subcommittee of the Trade Policy Staff Committee.
    The United States encourages owners and operators of markets 
reportedly involved in piracy or counterfeiting to adopt business 
models that rely on the licensed distribution of legitimate content and 
products and to work with right holders and enforcement officials to 
address infringement. USTR also encourages responsible government 
authorities to intensify their efforts to investigate reports of piracy 
and counterfeiting in such markets, and to pursue appropriate 
enforcement actions. The Notorious Markets List does not purport to 
reflect findings of legal violations, nor does it reflect the U.S. 
Government's analysis of the general intellectual property (IP) 
protection and enforcement climate in the country or countries 
concerned. For an analysis of the IP climate in particular countries, 
please refer to the annual Special 301 Report, published each spring no 
later than 30 days after USTR submits the National Trade Estimate to 
Congress.

II. Public Comments

    USTR invites written comments concerning examples of online and 
physical markets based outside the United States that reportedly engage 
in and facilitate substantial copyright piracy or trademark 
counterfeiting. To facilitate the review, written comments should be as 
detailed as possible. Comments must clearly identify the market and the 
reasons why the commenter believes that the market should be included 
in the Notorious Markets List. Commenters should include the following 
information, as applicable:
    For physical markets:
     The market's name and location, e.g., common name, street 
address, neighborhood, shopping district, city,

[[Page 42976]]

etc., and the identity of the principal owners/operators.
    For online markets:
     The domain name(s) past and present, available 
registration information, and name(s) and location(s) of the hosting 
provider(s) and operator(s).
     Information on the volume of internet traffic associated 
with the website, including number of visitors and page views, average 
time spent on the site, estimate of the number of infringing goods 
offered, sold, or traded and number of infringing files streamed, 
shared, seeded, leeched, downloaded, uploaded, or otherwise distributed 
or reproduced, and global or country popularity rating (e.g., Alexa 
rank).
     Revenue sources such as sales, subscriptions, donations, 
upload incentives, or advertising and the methods by which that revenue 
is collected.
    For physical and online markets:
     Whether the market is owned, operated, or otherwise 
affiliated with a government entity.
     Types of counterfeit or pirated products or services sold, 
traded, distributed, or otherwise made available at that market.
     Volume of counterfeit or pirated goods or services or 
other indicia of a market's scale, reach, or relative significance in a 
given geographic area or with respect to a category of goods or 
services.
     Estimates of economic harm to right holders resulting from 
the piracy or counterfeiting and a description of the methodology used 
to calculate the harm.
     Whether the volume of counterfeit or pirated goods or 
estimates of harm has increased or decreased from previous years, and 
an approximate calculation of that increase or decrease for each year.
     Whether the infringing goods or services sold, traded, 
distributed, or made available pose a risk to public health or safety.
     Any known contractual, civil, administrative, or criminal 
enforcement activity against the market and the outcome of that 
enforcement activity.
     Additional actions taken by right holders against the 
market such as takedown notices, requests to sites to remove URLs or 
infringing content, cease and desist letters, warning letters to 
landlords and requests to enforce the terms of their leases, requests 
to providers to enforce their terms of service or terms of use, and the 
outcome of these actions.
     Additional actions taken by the market owners or operators 
to remove, limit, or discourage the availability of counterfeit or 
pirated goods or services, including policies to prevent or remove 
access to such goods or services, or to disable seller or user 
accounts, the effectiveness of market policies and guidelines in 
addressing counterfeiting and piracy, and the level of cooperation with 
right holders and law enforcement.
     Any other additional information relevant to the review.
    Past Notorious Markets Lists have included an `issue focus' to 
highlight an issue related to the facilitation of substantial trademark 
counterfeiting or copyright piracy. The issue focus for the 2019 
Notorious Markets List will be ``Malware and Online Piracy.'' USTR 
invites written comments on this issue, such as the relationship 
between malware and online notorious markets based outside the United 
States, the size and scope of the issue, estimates of economic harm 
caused by the malware, specific examples, and recommended solutions.

III. Submission Instructions

    All submissions must be in English and sent electronically via 
www.regulations.gov. To submit comments, locate the docket (folder) by 
entering the docket number USTR-2019-0013 in the ``Enter Keyword or 
IP'' window at the www.regulations.gov homepage and click ``Search.'' 
The site will provide a search-results page listing all documents 
associated with this docket. Locate the reference to this notice by 
selecting ``Notice'' under ``Document Type'' on the left side of the 
search-results page, and click on the link entitled ``Comment Now!'' 
You should provide comments in an attached document, and name the file 
according to the following protocol, as appropriate: Commenter Name or 
Organization_2019 Notorious Markets OCR. Please include the following 
information in the ``Type Comment'' field: 2019 Out-of-Cycle Review of 
Notorious Markets. USTR prefers submissions in Microsoft Word (.doc) or 
Adobe Acrobat (.pdf) format. If the submission is in another file 
format, please indicate the name of the software application in the 
``Type Comment'' field. For further information on using the 
www.regulations.gov website, please select ``How to Use 
Regulations.gov'' on the bottom of any page.
    Please do not attach separate cover letters to electronic 
submissions. Instead, include any information that might appear in a 
cover letter in the comments themselves. Similarly, to the extent 
possible, please include any exhibits, annexes, or other attachments in 
the same file as the comment itself, rather than submitting them as 
separate files.
    For any comment submitted electronically that contains business 
confidential information, the file name of the business confidential 
version should begin with the characters ``BC''. Any page containing 
business confidential information must be clearly marked ``BUSINESS 
CONFIDENTIAL'' on the top of that page and the submission should 
clearly indicate, via brackets, highlighting, or other means, the 
specific information that is business confidential. A filer requesting 
business confidential treatment must certify that the information is 
business confidential and would not customarily be released to the 
public by the submitter. Additionally, the submitter should type 
``Business Confidential 2019 Out-of-Cycle Review of Notorious Markets'' 
in the ``Comment'' field.
    Filers of comments containing business confidential information 
also must submit a public version of their comments. The file name of 
the public version should begin with the character ``P''. The non-
business confidential version will be placed in the docket at 
www.regulations.gov and be available for public inspection.
    As noted, USTR strongly urges submitters to file comments through 
www.regulations.gov. You must make any alternative arrangements in 
advance of the relevant deadline and before transmitting a comment by 
contacting USTR at [email protected].
    We will post comments in the docket for public inspection, except 
business confidential information. You can view comments on 
www.regulations.gov by entering docket number USTR-2019-0013 in the 
search field on the home page.

Daniel Lee,
Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Innovation and Intellectual 
Property (Acting), Office of the United States Trade Representative.
[FR Doc. 2019-17731 Filed 8-16-19; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 3290-F9-P