The Special 301 Report is an annual report produced by the Office of the US Trade Representative that places countries with poor IP enforcement regimes on a Priority Watch List or a Watch List.
The USTR's 2008 Special 301 Report placed Italy on the Watch List along with countries such as Algeria, Belarus and Vietnam and complained that Italy "maintains one of the highest overall piracy rates in Western Europe".
The report also referred to "the lack of judicial imposition of deterrent-level penalties for criminal copyright and trade mark infringers".
This did not impress Counselor Fabrizio Mazza, head of the IP office at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
In cable Rome 1337 Mazza, in addition to discussing ACTA told US officials that the Italian government was angry about the language of that Report.
Mazza said that before that report Italy had "put a great deal of effort into getting the 'buy in' that will allow real change".
"As a result of these efforts, senior government officials had begun to pressure judges to impose tougher sentences for IPR-related crimes, something that is particularly difficult politically," the cable states.
Mazza said that reaction to the report among higher officials would make further progress more difficult. He also complained that even China received more praise in the report for its actions than Italy.
In the cable Mazza proposes forming an inter-ministerial committee to deal with piracy issues and the introduction of a system to warn illegal downloaders.
But US officials were sceptical. The final paragraph of the cable states that the plan to form "another committee" is proof that "Italy is still a long way from taking the kind of enforcement actions needed to get off the Special 301 list".
Italy has remained on the Watch List in both the 2009 and 2010 Special 301 Reports. In 2010 the Report states that "Overall, much needs to be done to address Italy's IPR protection and enforcement deficiencies."
