The International Intellectual Property Alliance, or IIPA, has made public its submission to the United States Trade Representative’s Special 301 Report, which addresses intellectual property infringements around the world, arguing Vietnam should be kept on the body’s watch list.
The IIPA goes on to detail an unwillingness on the part of the Vietnamese authorities to prosecute offenders and a need to provide for higher penalties for offenders. Furthermore it argues that market access or a lack thereof for foreign firms is exacerbating piracy in Vietnam.
Specifically it identifies the following market access conditions:
- A 30 percent cap on the number of foreign TV channels on any single pay-TV service;
- A need to translate and have approved all foreign content, for which firms must pay an ‘editing fee’;
- Decree 06 which asserts that over-the-top services like Netflix must open a local office or form a partnership with a local firm;
- Local content quotas;
- Broadcast quotas that limit foreign content to 50 percent of airtime;
- A 51 percent foreign ownership cap on cinema ownership, and film production and distribution;
- Licensing requirements for video games; and
- Foreign ownership restrictions that restrict US firms from producing, publishing, and distributing music in Vietnam.
The IIPA also goes on to detail the clauses in international agreements it believes Vietnam to be in breach of.
Of note, Vietnam has been on the USTR’s Special 301 Report Watch List since 1997.
Full report: IIPA 2024 Special 301 Report on Copyright Protection and Enforcement