Source: Wikimedia Commons

Washington, D.C. – On the heels of World Intellectual Property Day, the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) has released the 2016 “Special 301” Report (PDF) on the global state of intellectual property rights protection and enforcement.

U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman was joined by Members of Congress and the American business community in order to unveil the report, which is the last that will be released during the Obama Administration.

The Special 301 Report identifies trade barriers to U.S. companies and products due to the intellectual property laws, such as copyright, patents and trademarks, in other countries such as Costa Rica, which remains on the Watch List.

The USTR identifies Costa Rica as a nation that fails to provide “adequate and effective” protection of intellectual property rights or “fair and equitable market access to United States persons that rely upon intellectual property rights”.

Trade Representative Froman stated:

“Intellectual property is a critical source of economic growth and high-quality jobs for the United States, and it is more important than ever to prevent foreign governments and competitors from ripping off United States innovators who are trying to support high-paying jobs by exporting their goods and services to consumers around the world.”

Two countries on the USTR Priority are China and India, which the U.S. believes are problematic with regard to trade secret theft, rampant online piracy and counterfeiting, continued high levels of physical pirated and counterfeit goods.

It is interesting to note that Costa Rica gained notoriety a couple of years ago as a haven for BitTorrent listing networks such as The Pirate Bay and Kick Ass Torrents. These websites are often associated with copyright infringement, although they merely display links to digital content being shared by Internet users around the world.

Despite our place on the USTR Watch List, Costa Rica is the 41st largest goods trading partner for the U.S., with $11 billion in total (two way) goods trade during 2015. Goods exports totaled $6.1 billion; goods imports totaled $4.5 billion. The U.S. goods trade surplus with Costa Rica was $1.7 billion in 2015.

U.S. foreign direct investment (FDI) in Costa Rica (stock) was $955 million in 2014 (latest data available), a 4.3% decrease from 2013. U.S. direct investment in Costa Rica is led by manufacturing, prof., scientific, and tech. services, and information.