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   opportunities to advance and defend the interests of U.S. creators, innovators, businesses, farmers, and workers with respect to strong protection and effective enforcement of IPR, including their ability to compete in foreign markets.

World Trade Organization (WTO): The multilateral structure of the WTO provides opportunities for USTR to lead engagement with trading partners on IPR issues in several contexts, including through accession negotiations for prospective Members, the Council for Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS Council), and the Dispute Settlement Body. In the past year, the United States sponsored discussions in the TRIPS Council on the positive role of IPR protection and enforcement in contributing to national innovation environments, including with respect to low-cost innovation and social entrepreneurship, and university research and technology transfer partnerships. These discussions, which involved contributions from a broad array of WTO Members, including developed, developing, and least-developed countries, addressed national IP strategies to promote innovation, focusing in particular on the role IP plays in driving critical financing, commercialization, and partnerships to bring ideas to market. The United States has also actively engaged in TRIPS Council discussions on the positive role of IP in promoting climate technology innovation and transfer. These discussions highlighted the global nature of climate technology innovation and the beneficial contributions of IPR protection and enforcement on technology innovation and transfer. Additionally, the United States co-sponsored discussions on IP and sports, with broad engagement from numerous and diverse WTO Members, focusing on the critical relationship between sports (including major sporting events such as the Olympics, World Cup, and national leagues) and IP (including copyright for broadcasting content, patents and trade secrets for cutting-edge sports equipment, and trademarks for branding and sponsorship).

Bilateral and Regional Initiatives: The United States works with many trading partners to strengthen IPR protection and enforcement through the provisions of bilateral and regional agreements, including trade agreements). In addition, Trade and Investment Framework Agreements (TIFAs) between the United States and numerous trading partners around the world have facilitated discussions on enhancing IPR protection and enforcement.

Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA): On October 5, 2012, Japan became the first signatory to ACTA to deposit its instrument of acceptance. The United States continues to work with Japan and other negotiating parties to bring the ACTA into force. The ACTA effort, launched in October 2007, brought together a number of like-minded countries prepared to embrace strengthened IPR enforcement and cooperative enforcement practices. ACTA signatories are Australia, Canada, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, Morocco, New Zealand, Singapore, and the United States. The European Union   14