Photo Credit: Ambassador Jamieson Greer, Office of the United States Trade Representative (Public Domain)
The US Trade Representative opens an investigation into Vietnam a month after designating it as a “Priority Foreign Country” over its failure to deter online piracy.
The U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) has formally opened an investigation just a month after designating Vietnam as a “Priority Foreign Country” over inadequate measures taken to deter online piracy. The MPA, which has taken action against Vietnamese pirate operations including Fmovies, 2embed, and Sflix, is expected to weigh in on the matter. Rightsholders are also encouraged to submit comments.
Under the Trade Act of 1974, the Priority Foreign Country designation triggers a 30-day period for the USTR to determine whether to open a formal investigation. That decision was officially made late last week by Ambassador Jamieson Greer.
In May, the USTR issued its annual Special 301 Report, containing the countries that need to make improvements on enforcing IP and cracking down on piracy. Vietnam was specifically called out under the Priority Foreign Country status—the first time the status was applied in 13 years—over persistent failures to prevent counterfeiting and online piracy.
Now, the Section 301 investigation will examine whether Vietnam’s policies related to copyright protection and enforcement are unreasonable or discriminatory and hinder U.S. commerce.
Vietnamese authorities have made significant efforts to help shut down several notable pirate sites. But many of these operations continue to proliferate.
“While Vietnam has recently taken some steps toward addressing IP concerns that the United States has chronicled over many years in USTR’s Annual Special 301 Report, IP infringement in Vietnam continues to impair the competitive position of U.S. innovators and creators,” said Ambassador Greer. “We need to see Vietnam resolve these long-standing concerns, including on a range of IP enforcement issues, in a manner that is sustained, and that deters future IP infringements.”
Alongside the investigation announcement, the USTR also opened a round of consultation, asking stakeholders to comment on their commerce experiences with Vietnam. This includes challenges associated with piracy, which are highlighted as the primary concern in the investigation.
The request for public comments also asks stakeholders to comment on “what action, if any, should be taken, including tariff and non-tariff actions.” That means that an array of trade sanctions is up for discussion.
“The United States has repeatedly raised strong concerns about Vietnam’s role in online piracy worldwide,” according to the federal register notice. “Vietnam remains a significant source of online piracy and continues to host popular English-language copyright infringement sites and services that target a global audience. Some of these sites provide piracy services, including extensive libraries of pirated movies and TV shows.”
Notably, the USTR notice doesn’t call out any sites or services by name. But the earlier Notorious Markets report flagged several known sites as key threats: HiAnime, Myflixerz, and MegaCloud. All three went offline in the days leading up to the USTR’s Special 301 Report.
