The US on Wednesday placed India on the “Priority Watch List” for the lack of sufficient measurable improvements to its intellectual property framework on the “long-standing” and “new challenges” that have negatively affected American right holders over the past year.

The US placed 10 countries, including some of its major trading partners such as India and China, on the list, alleging that the enforcement of the intellectual properties has deteriorated or remained at inadequate levels and the Americans who rely on their protection have difficulty with fair and equitable market access.

The countries placed on the list by the Trump administration on Intellectual Property (IP) issues are Algeria, Argentina, Chile, China, India, Indonesia, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Ukraine and Venezuela.

Kuwait has been removed from last year’s list that included 11 countries.

“The Trump administration is committed to holding intellectual property rights violators accountable and to ensuring that American innovators and creators have a full and fair opportunity to use and profit from their work,” said US Trade Representative (USTR) Robert Lighthizer after the release of annual Special 301 Report on the adequacy of IP rights.

Long-standing IP challenges facing US businesses in India include those which make it difficult for innovators to receive, maintain, and enforce patents in India, particularly for pharmaceuticals; ineffectual enforcement activities, copyright policies that fail to incentivise the creation and commercialisation of content, and an outdated and insufficient trade.