Saturday, April 29 2006 11:16 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Washington: The United States has placed India among most severe category of countries accused of not providing an adequate level of intellectual property rights protection.

The annual 'Special 301 Report' by the office of US Trade Representative has included India among the 48 countries that has been retained in the Priority Watch List 2006.

"India made some improvements to its IPR regime during the past year but IPR protection concerns remain due to inadequate laws and ineffective enforcement," the USTR said in the report.

"The United States urges India to improve its IPR regime by providing stronger protection for copyrights, trademarks, and patents as well as protection against unfair commercial use of undisclosed test and other data submitted by pharmaceutical companies seeking marketing approval for their products," it said even while calling on New Delhi to join and implement the WIPO Internet Treaties.