According to the 2014 Special 301 Report, despite the efforts for improvement of IPR enforcement and public awareness, Vietnam still has to face certain challenges to ensure strong copyright protection and enforcement. The major concerns that USTR exposes for Vietnam are: piracy and sales of counterfeit goods over the Internet, counterfeit goods, book piracy, software piracy (including on government computer systems), and cable and satellite signal theft, capacity constraints for enforcement agencies, the lack of coordination among the agencies with enforcement jurisdiction.
Vietnam is advised to “clarify its system for protecting against the unfair commercial use, as well as unauthorized disclosure, of undisclosed test or other data generated to obtain marketing approval for pharmaceutical products”. The US reminds also of the need of deterrent criminal penalties against IPR violators in Vietnam that the government should enact, so that the criminalizing IPR crimes laws could work effectively.
The entire report can be found here.
