A notorious market is a website or physical market where, according to the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR), large-scale intellectual property infringement takes place. Officially termed Notorious Markets for Counterfeiting and Piracy, the USTR has generated a yearly list of such notorious markets since 2006 with input from various industry groups.

History

Since 2006,[1] the members of the International Intellectual Property Alliance in conjunction with the Office of the United States Trade Representative has annually filed a list of Notorious Markets[2] as a part of their Special 301 Report to the U.S. federal government. It lists virtual markets (websites) and physical markets outside of the US where large scale copyright infringement takes place and recommends trade sanctions for countries with weak copyright protection enforcement. Since 2010 the list is separately issued as a part of an out-of-cycle review between the main report submissions.[3]

Whilst the list of markets does not directly form national trade policy, the report says "The United States encourages the responsible authorities to step up efforts to combat piracy and counterfeiting in these and similar markets."[‡ 1]

In January 2025, USTR annual report on notorious markets again listed the People's Republic of China (PRC) as "the number one source of counterfeit products in the world," with 90 percent of U.S. Customs and Border Protection seizures of counterfeit or pirated products coming from the PRC or Hong Kong.[4]

List creation process

The notorious market list is created following input from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and Motion Picture Association (MPAA), as well as other industry groups. The goal of the list is to encourage governments to take action against intellectual property violations, as well as encouraging markets to reform. Sites include torrenting websites such as The Pirate Bay, stream ripping sites, and sites for cheating in online games.[5]

List

Main article: List of notorious markets

Reports

MPAA submissionRIAA submissionReportDate published
2006 Special 301 Report[‡ 1]2006
2007 Special 301 Report[‡ 2]2007
2008 Special 301 Report[‡ 3]2008
2009 Special 301 Report[‡ 4]April 2009
2010 Special 301 Report[‡ 5]April 2010
November 2010[6]November 2010[7]2010 Out-of-Cycle Review[‡ 6]February 2011
October 2011[8]2011 Out-of-Cycle Review[‡ 7][9]December 2011
September 2012[10]August 2012[11]2012 Out-of-Cycle Review[‡ 8][12]December 2012
October 2013[13]September 2013[citation needed]2013 Out-of-Cycle Review[‡ 9][14]February 2014
October 2014[15]October 2014[16]2014 Out-of-Cycle Review[‡ 10][17]March 2015
2015 Out-of-Cycle Review[‡ 11]December 2015
2016 Out-of-Cycle Review[‡ 12]December 2016
2017 Out-of-Cycle Review[‡ 13]January 2018
2018 Out-of-Cycle Review[‡ 14]April 2019
2019 Review of Notorious Markets[‡ 15]April 2020
2020 Review of Notorious Markets[‡ 16]January 2021
2021 Review of Notorious Markets[‡ 17]February 2022
2022 Review of Notorious Markets[‡ 18]January 2023
2023 Review of Notorious Markets[‡ 19]January 2024
2024 Review of Notorious Markets[‡ 20]January 2025

See also

References

  1. ^ "USTR Announces Results of Special 301 Review of Notorious Markets". Archived 17 December 2014 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2 December 2014.
  2. ^ Ernesto (October 27, 2014). "MPAA Reports The Pirate Bay to The U.S. Government". Archived 2 December 2014 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2 December 2014.
  3. ^ "2014 Special 301 Out-of-Cycle Review of Notorious Markets: Request for Public Comments". 26 September 2014. Archived 19 December 2014 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 13 December 2014.
  4. ^ Kine, Phelim (2025-01-09). "Trump sparks Japanese jitters". Politico Europe. Retrieved 2025-01-10.
  5. ^ Van der Sar, Ernesto (April 27, 2019). "US Govt Identifies Top Pirate Sites and Other 'Notorious Markets'". TorrentFreak. Archived November 19, 2020 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved January 10, 2021.
  6. ^ enigmax (November 7, 2010). "MPAA Lists Major Torrent, Usenet and Hosting Sites In Submission To U.S. Government". Archived 16 December 2014 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2 December 2014.
  7. ^ "RIAA Reports Torrent Sites, RapidShare and RLSLOG to US Government". November 11, 2010. Archived 13 January 2021 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 13 December 2014.
  8. ^ Ernesto (October 28, 2011). "MPAA Lists "Notorious" Pirate Sites To U.S. Government". Retrieved 2 December 2014.
  9. ^ "Out-of-Cycle Review of Notorious Markets". Archived 2014-12-10 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2014-12-13.
  10. ^ "115644694 NOT Motion Picture Association of America Final". 6 December 2012. Retrieved 13 December 2014.
  11. ^ "RIAA: BitTorrent Sites and Cyberlockers Should Filter Proactively". November 14, 2012. Archived 16 December 2014 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 13 December 2014.
  12. ^ F, Sean. "US Official 'Notorious Markets' Piracy List Updated". Retrieved 2 December 2014.
  13. ^ Ernesto (October 26, 2013). "MPAA Reports Notorious Pirate Sites to U.S. Government". Archived November 19, 2014 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved December 2, 2014.
  14. ^ "Notorious Markets List Focuses Fight Against Global Piracy and Counterfeiting of American Products". Archived from the original on 7 March 2016. Retrieved 2 December 2014.
  15. ^ "MPAA Reports The Pirate Bay to The U.S. Government". Archived 9 December 2014 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 13 December 2014.
  16. ^ Ernesto (October 28, 2014). "RIAA: The Pirate Bay Assaults Fundamental Human Rights". Archived 10 December 2014 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 13 December 2014.
  17. ^ Andy (March 6, 2015). "U.S. Government Lists Top Torrent Sites as Piracy Havens". Retrieved 6 March 2015.

Reports

In the text these references are preceded by a double dagger (‡):

  1. ^ "2006 Special 301 Report". Office of the United States Trade Representative. 2006. Archived September 26, 2020 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved January 10, 2021.
  2. ^ "2007 Special 301 Report". Office of the United States Trade Representative. 2007. Archived September 26, 2020 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved January 10, 2021.
  3. ^ "2008 Special 301 Report". Office of the United States Trade Representative. 2008. Archived September 30, 2020 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved January 10, 2021.
  4. ^ "2009 Special 301 Report". Office of the United States Trade Representative. April 30, 2009. Archived August 10, 2020 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved January 10, 2021.
  5. ^ "2010 Special 301 Report". Office of the United States Trade Representative. April 30, 2010. Archived October 18, 2020 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved January 10, 2021.
  6. ^ "2010 Out of Cycle Review of Notorious Markets". Office of the United States Trade Representative. February 28, 2011. Archived October 21, 2020 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved January 10, 2021.
  7. ^ "2011 Out of Cycle Review of Notorious Markets". Office of the United States Trade Representative. December 20, 2011. Archived October 18, 2020 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved January 10, 2021.
  8. ^ "2012 Out of Cycle Review of Notorious Markets". Office of the United States Trade Representative. December 13, 2012. Archived October 20, 2020 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved January 10, 2021.
  9. ^ "2013 Out of Cycle Review of Notorious Markets". Office of the United States Trade Representative. February 12, 2014. Archived October 24, 2020 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved January 10, 2021.
  10. ^ "2014 Out of Cycle Review of Notorious Markets". Office of the United States Trade Representative. March 5, 2015. Archived January 31, 2017 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved January 10, 2021.
  11. ^ "2015 Out of Cycle Review of Notorious Markets". Office of the United States Trade Representative. December 2015. Archived October 17, 2020 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved January 10, 2021.
  12. ^ "2016 Out of Cycle Review of Notorious Markets". Office of the United States Trade Representative. December 2016. Archived December 23, 2020 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved January 10, 2021.
  13. ^ "2017 Out of Cycle Review of Notorious Markets". Office of the United States Trade Representative. January 11, 2018. Archived December 23, 2020 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved January 10, 2021.
  14. ^ "2018 Out of Cycle Review of Notorious Markets". Office of the United States Trade Representative. April 25, 2019. Archived December 10, 2020 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved January 10, 2021.
  15. ^ "2019 Review of Notorious Markets for Counterfeiting and Piracy". Office of the United States Trade Representative. April 29, 2020. Archived November 1, 2020 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved January 10, 2021.
  16. ^ "2020 Review of Notorious Markets for Counterfeiting and Piracy". Office of the United States Trade Representative. Archived January 27, 2023 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved May 22, 2021.
  17. ^ "2021 Review of Notorious Markets for Counterfeiting and Piracy". Office of the United States Trade Representative. Archived February 19, 2022 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved June 2, 2022.
  18. ^ "2022 Review of Notorious Markets for Counterfeiting and Piracy". Office of the United States Trade Representative. Archived February 29, 2024 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved March 1, 2024.
  19. ^ "2023 Review of Notorious Markets for Counterfeiting and Piracy". Office of the United States Trade Representative. Archived March 2, 2024 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved March 1, 2024.
  20. ^ "2024 Review of Notorious Markets for Counterfeiting and Piracy". Office of the United States Trade Representative. Archived March 20, 2025 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved March 20, 2025.