US again puts India on IPR priority watch list

The US has again placed India on its intellectual property 'priority watch list', stating that New Delhi remains one of the world's most challenging major economies with respect to protection and enforcement of IP rights.

As per the US Trade Representative's (USTR) 2025 Special 301 report released Tuesday, over the past year, India has remained inconsistent in its progress on intellectual property protection and enforcement.

"India remains one of the world's most challenging major economies with respect to protection and enforcement of IP... India remains on the priority watch list in 2025," it said, adding that patent issues continue to be of particular concern in India.


China, Russia and Canada also figure in the list of 25 countries identified in the USTR's Annual Special 301 Report.

The USTR said although India has worked to strengthen its IP regime, including raising public awareness about the importance of the subject, and engagement with the US on IP issues has increased, there continues to be a lack of progress on many long-standing IP concerns.

Among other concerns, the potential threat of patent revocations and procedural and discretionary invocation of patentability criteria under the Indian Patents Act impact companies across different sectors.