U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai released the 2021 “301 Investigation Report” on the 30th, continuing to put China on the priority watch list; with regard to Taiwan, the report mentioned that the theft of trade secrets by UMC (Micron) is a major verdict in Taiwan after the amendment of the Trade Secrets Act, but also Taiwan The report mentions that UMC’s theft of trade secrets from Micron is a major judgment after the amendment of Taiwan’s Trade Secrets Act and a case of substantial cooperation between the U.S. and Taiwan prosecution systems.
Regarding China, Dage said he is closely monitoring the progress of the first phase of the U.S.-China trade agreement and is concerned about whether the Chinese side is implementing its commitments, and said China amended its patent and copyright laws last year, but has not yet implemented them.
Dage also mentioned that some countries have noticed counterfeit new coronavirus reagents, personal medical protective equipment (such as N95 masks) and disinfectants from China; China has the world’s largest e-commerce market, and counterfeiting is blowing from brick-and-mortar stores to the Internet and accelerating as the epidemic spreads.
The 301 investigation report, which looks at the actions of hundreds of U.S. trading partners in protecting intellectual property rights, is the first to be released since Dyche took office as trade representative, with China, Russia, India, Indonesia, Chile, Argentina, Saudi Arabia, Ukraine and Venezuela continuing to be on the priority watch list.
This is the 17th consecutive year that China has been on the priority watch list, and Taiwan has not been added to the list by the United States; compared to last year’s report, this year only Algeria was moved from the priority watch to the watch list, and no trading partners were added to the priority watch.
Regarding Taiwan, the investigation report mentioned that after Taiwan amended its trade secret law, the largest case is a court ruling that a Taiwan semiconductor company and its three former employees, theft of trade secrets of U.S. companies, so that Chinese state-owned enterprises can develop semiconductor chips, the court ruled guilty; the report said that this is a case of substantial cooperation between the U.S. and Taiwan prosecution system.
The 301 report refers to the former Taiwan Micron Chen Zhengkun, He Jianting, Wang Yongming, jumped ship to UMC, and took away Micron’s business secrets, providing process parameters and transferring the technology to UMC and Fujian semiconductor company Jinhua. U.S. and Taiwan prosecutors have prosecuted the case, Taiwan Taichung District Court last June ruled that UMC to pay a fine of 100 million New Taiwan dollars (about 3.58 million U.S. dollars), He Jian-ting and others need to serve prison terms and fines.
In addition, the report mentions that with the popularity of online video and books, digital piracy is a serious problem, including China, India, Mexico and Vietnam, all of which have poor enforcement, and according to statistics, the global economy loses $71 billion annually as a result.
Illegal subscription-based AV streaming platforms are rampant, and the report names Brazil, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand and Taiwan, and refers to China as a manufacturing center for related equipment, and Iraq as a source of satellite reception for providing illegal interceptions.
In addition, Dage said the 301 investigation report was written at the time of the pandemic, the United States’ first priority is to save lives and end the global epidemic, the United States cognizant of its role in protecting the intellectual property rights of new drug development.
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