By David Lawder

WASHINGTON (Reuters] – Due to the Russian invasion, the United States suspended a trade review on Ukraine’s IP practices and lifted oil exporters Saudi Arabian Arabian Kuwait from its watch list.

According to the U.S. Trade Representative, China was placed on a Priority Watch List by its office in response to questions raised regarding China’s copyright and patent laws.

Ukraine previously was on USTR’s Priority Watch List. It indicated the greatest level of concern. The list was created due to Ukraine’s use of unlicensed programs by government agencies. Also, there is a dearth of effective methods to fight widespread online copyright violations and the possibility of collecting royalties.

The Special 301 was triggered by Russia’s unprovoked and premeditated invasion of Ukraine, February 2022.

USTR stated in the report that Ukraine’s review has been suspended.

USTR stated that Saudi Arabia was removed from its priority list because of steps taken by the country to improve judicial training, publish IP enforcement procedures and fight counterfeit and stolen goods.

The company stated that they had taken Lebanon, Kuwait and Romania off the lower-priority Watch List as a result of IP enforcement improvement, but it also said that it would perform an out of season review of Bulgaria to see if Sofia addressed any deficiencies in its investigation and prosecution of online piracy cases.